Concentration talk

Olympics bronze medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar gives his take on the medal hopes of the Indian grapplers at the Commonwealth Youth Games

Suhrid Barua, Pune Mirror, October 12, 2008

Pune: Having attained the exalted status in the sport — a podium finish in Olympics — Sushil Kumar now knows more than a thing or two on how to chart a route to success on the big stage. To put it simply, his epochal effort at Beijing has not just given Indian wrestling the much-needed springboard but also ensured the sport is alive and kicking from the perspective of more youngsters taking a fancy to the sport.Pep talk

And for the seven matmen, who were selected from a list of forty probables that attended the national camp at the Army Sports Institute, Pune, Sushil has some pep talk to offer. “I will be speaking to the boys. I think all seven of them have trained hard for the Games and are serious medal contenders, rather I should say they are favourites to win even the gold,” observed the 25-year-old on his arrival in the city on Saturday.

Focus important

Touching on the strategizing part, Sushil feels the Indian wrestlers must guard against lapse in concentration. “In wrestling you can’t indulge in much strategy making. It’s not like some other sport where you garner a healthy lead and sit on it. It could be a win by a fall, or by a technical superiority, so our wrestlers should put more focus on maintaining a higher level of concentration as fortunes of a player can change pretty fast during a bout,” he explains.

Stiff competition

Sushil, however, sounded a note of caution for the Indian grapplers. “Watch out for wrestlers from Nigeria and Canada. They have it in them to dominate the event. But our wrestlers are well prepared. Also, playing in front of their home crowd should spur our wrestlers to come out with something ‘special’,” he signed off.