Fighting for an Olympic ticket on the unfamiliar legal turf, Sushil Kumar's glorious wrestling career may meet an unceremonious end when the Delhi High Court pronounces its verdict on Monday on who gets to board the flight to Rio between him and Narsingh Yadav. An unfavourable verdict for Sushil may not be the end on the legal front as he can still challenge the ruling in the Supreme Court. But it could well signal the end of the road for perhaps the greatest Indian Olympian, who won two back-to-back medals. With less than two months left for the Olympics, starting August 5, future look bleak for the unassuming grappler from Haryana whose injuries played a part in the entire sequence of events leading up to Monday. The Delhi High Court, in its last hearing on Thursday, gave clear indications that it was likely to give a judgement in favour of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) in the tiff over selection trials in the men's 74kg freestyle category. The Delhi High court had observed that it did not find "any statutory mandate" to hold trials before the Olympics.
The Delhi High Court on Monday, dismissed wrestler Sushil Kumar's plea seeking selection trial with Narsingh Yadav for 74 kg freestyle category for a berth at the Rio Olympics.
Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar has insisted that his participation in television reality show MTV Roadies is not going to affect his preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A day after unheralded grappler Sakshi Malik opened India's medal count with a dramatic bronze-winning effort, shuttler P V Sindhu is all set to further showcase Indian women's capabilities at the Olympic on Thursday.
Sachin Tendulkar will travel to the Rio Olympics after being invited by International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach along with other eminent global personalities.
Sushil Kumar's fight for an Olympic berth suffered another blow with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) strongly hinting that they would prefer Narsingh Yadav for the Rio event by insisting on not having a trial given the quota winner's "consistent performances". Following the Delhi High Court directive, a special WFI committee, formed on the instruction of the court, held a meeting with the two-time Olympic medallist, to sort out as to who between Sushil and Narsingh would represent India in the men's 74kg freestyle category at the mega-event in August. "Sushil has put forward his views before the committee and has maintained what he has been saying since the very beginning that he should get a chance to undergo a trial," WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh told reporters in New Delhi. "We have told him that 'you have put Indian wrestling at a pedestal and we cannot ignore your contribution and we all respect you'. But on the other hand, there is another wrestler who has brought the Olympic quota and also has been giving consistent performances. So, can we be unfair to him also?" Brij Bhushan added.
Amidst the dilemma of double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar and Narsingh Yadav fighting each other for a place in the World Championships, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has decided to hold selection trials of the senior grapplers on July 6-7.
Kidambi Srikanth, the centre of attention in the Rio Olympics on Wednesday, can take heart from Hyderabad city mate P V Sindhu for his men's singles quarter-final clash against Chinese badminton icon Lin Dan.
India's double-Olympic medal winning wrestler Sushil Kumar, on Saturday, conceded that he has met top officials of the WWE but ruled out any immediate move to professional wrestling.
Rejecting allegations of conflict of interest against Sushil Kumar, the Sports Ministry on Thursday defended the star grappler's appointment as a national observer for wrestling.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt would seek to grab an Olympic quota place in his first opportunity when he spearheads a 17-member Indian campaign at the Asian Olympic Qualification wrestling championship, starting in Astana, Kazakhstan from Friday. It will be a tough three-day competition from March 18-20, considering that only the top two finishers in each weight category here will secure an Olympic berth for a country. This is the second qualifying event for the Rio Games. The first was held last year at the World Championship in Las Vegas, where just one Indian in Narsingh Yadav bagged a quota place for the country in Men's 74kg freestyle. With India's entry at Rio de Janeiro ensured in 74kg category, no one will be competing in this category. Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar also fights in the same weight division as Narsingh. Thus, the squad consists of five grapplers in men's freestyle, six in Greco-Roman and six in female wrestling. London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar, who pulled out of the 2015 World Championship due to an injury, has the best chance of grabbing an Olympic berth for India as well as a medal.
A turbulent run-up to the Rio Games behind him, Narsingh Yadav will be eyeing a fairytale climax while old warhorse Yogeshwar Dutt would look to bid adieu with a second straight medal when India begin their Olympic wrestling campaign on Monday.
A bitter court battle, followed by an embarrassing dope scandal, before some redemption through an Olympic medal -- Indian wrestling in 2016 mirrored the script of a Bollywood potboiler in which Sakshi Malik emerged as the new star on the horizon. For most part of the year, wrestling hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons, making it a tumultuous Olympic build-up after two-time medallist Sushil Kumar found himself ousted from contention just a couple of months before the Games in Rio. The chain of events that set in ended up disgracing the sport before Sakshi emerged an unlikely saviour in the Brazillian city.
His plea for selection trial dismissed by the Delhi High Court, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar will again approach the Wrestling Federation of India and then a larger bench of the same HC in his quest for competing at the Rio Olympics before deciding on whether to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
Wrestlers sound alarm over training disruption, urge SAI to reopen centres
Indian shot putter Inderjeet Singh, who returned positive for banned substances last month, alleged that his dope samples might have been tampered with as the National Anti-Doping Agency gave him two different results on the same sample collected on June 29, a claim denied by the NADA. Inderjeet, one of the 36 Indian track and field athletes who qualified for the ongoing Rio Olympics, circulated documents at a press conference which showed that the National Dope Testing Laboratory had given two different results of the A sample taken on June 29 during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Hyderabad.
The subsidence zone is located at central Joshimath only including the Army Helipad and Narsingh temple, the satellite images revealed.
In a massive heartbreak for India, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt slumped to a shock defeat in the men's 65kg freestyle qualification round bout against Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran of Mongolia at the Rio Olympic Games.
Vinesh Phogat, the only Indian woman wrestler to have qualified for Tokyo Olympics, has pulled out of the national camp citing health safety concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a decision which has irked the national federation.
P V Sindhu is hoping to become India's first-ever woman Olympic gold medallist across all sporting disciplines when she takes on World champion Carolina Marin of Spain in the final of women's singles badminton event at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, on Friday.
'The WFI has taken a decision in principle to let these wrestlers prepare on their own and not disturb them. On their requests, we have decided to let them skip the trials as they are best bets in their weight categories and hardly face any competition'
'It is important to keep new tricks in your bag to win at the biggest event of world sports.'
With the Delhi high court on Tuesday directing Wrestling Federation of India to hold a meeting with Sushil Kumar, the decorated grappler's hopes of competing at the Olympics seems almost over as the Federation is not keen on conducting a trial in the contentious men's 74kg category.
With Sushil Kumar's chances of participating in the second season of the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) next to nil, another star India wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt is also likely to opt out of the upcoming event taking the sheen away from the tournament.
National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) President Raninder Singh took upon himself the blame for the shooters' dismal outing at the Rio Olympics, saying it was a mistake on his part to allow the athletes to train with personal coaches.
Sushil Kumar quashed talk of retirement and insisting that postponement of Tokyo Olympics has given him a very good shot at qualifying for his fourth Games. The 36-year-old was struggling to make the cut for the Olympics, postponed to 2021 owing to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Wrestler Sandeep Tomar secured an Olympic quota place for India in the men's 57kg freestyle category with a bronze-medal finish on the final day of the 1st World Olympic Qualifying tournament in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
India's most decorated wrestler Sushil Kumar, considers next month's Commonwealth Games the first step towards accomplishing his 'unfulfilled' dream of winning an OIympic gold medal.
Tokyo-bound Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia pulled off a two-pointer in the last 30 seconds of the gold medal bout to defend his title at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event in Rome.
Many top athletes around the globe might be pulling out of the Rio Olympics due to Zika virus concern but chef de mission of the Indian Olympic contingent Rakesh Gupta said they are taking every possible step to address any possible risk. "We are concerned about Zika virus but we are taking every possible precaution for the Indian contingent that will travel to Rio. Whatever advisory we have received from the international body we have forwarded that to the players and federations," Gupta said on the sidelines of an event where Amul became the official sponsor of the Indian contingent.
'Sakshi's medal will do to women's wrestling what Sushil's 2008 Olympic medal did to wrestling in general.' 'It will make more and more families put their daughters into wrestling.' 'More and more young girls will fall in love with the sport and demand that they be taken to akhadas.'
These athletes made India proud four years ago.
Star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt heaved a sigh of relief after clinching a spot for the World Championships by beating Amit Kumar Dhankhar, who had gone to court last year against the Olympic medallist alleging favouritism.
Mumbai trounced Himachal Pradesh by 200 runs in their final Elite Group D game to remain unbeaten in the league stage
The Indian wrestling contingent were hit with a doping scandal ahead of the 2016 Rio Games, which resulted in freestyle medal contender Narsingh Pancham Yadav being disqualified just days before his scheduled opening bout.
Speaking exclusively to Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com, the Haryana-based wrestler shed light on the latest reports of Asgarov testing positive and Sakshi Malik's bronze medal feat at the Rio Olympics.
Two Indian athletes will be in action at the 2012 Olympics on Friday. Check out their schedule.
Yogeshwar Dutt emerged the costliest Indian grappler in the inaugural Pro Wrestling League (PWL) auctions in New Delhi on Tuesday.
What a year Sania Mirza, Leander Paes, Saina Nehwal, Vijender Singh and Anirban Lahiri had!
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