Dismissing Sushil Kumar's plea to wrestle for India at 74 kilograms/163 pounds in men's freestyle competition at the Rio Games in August, Justice Manmohan said that "last-minute challenge to selection can disturb the mental preparation of the selected athlete Narsingh Yadav."
India's Sushil Kumar won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London (Photo/Andrew Hipps)Justice Manmohan also noted that Kumar failed to take part in a number of events, including selection trials in 2014 and 2015 as well as in the National Championship on December 31, 2015 and January 1, 2016 and the Asian Championship held in February 2016. The court said Kumar has not won any major national or international tournament between September 2014 and now. By comparison, Yadav defeated Purvjav Unurbat of Mongolia, the silver medalist in the September 2015 World Championship, in the Pro Wrestling League last December.
"It is not understood as to why Sushil Kumar has challenged Narsingh Yadav to a 'duel' only in the month of May, 2016 i.e. with only two and a half months left for the Olympics," the court said. "Sushil Kumar being a professional wrestler [as in, wrestling is his profession, not that he is a himself would know that any direction to hold a trial at this stage would seriously jeopardize the chance of India winning a medal in the Olympics inasmuch as Narsingh Yadav would have to halt his training midway and would have to lose his weight earlier than scheduled," it added. "The high probability of an injury in a trial cannot be 'lost sight of'," the court noted, holding that the practice that a wrestler who has earned a berth for the country will represent it, is neither perverse nor contrary to the national sports code, the selection procedure followed by the WFI."
Sushil Kumar has said he may now take his case to the Supreme Court of India.
In a related matter, the Dehli High Court also issued notice to WFI vice president Raj Singh for allegedly filing a false affidavit in connection with the case, asking him why perjury proceedings should not be initiated against him for statements he made with regards to the qualification process for Indian wrestlers for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Sushil Kumar, 33, has earned medals in a number of international freestyle wrestling events. He earned a bronze medal at 66 kilos/145 pounds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and silver at the same weight class at the 2012 London Games. Kumar earned a gold medal at the 2010 World championships in Moscow, as well as gold at the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games.
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