Jakarta: He has been easily the most decorated Indian wrestler of all time, but the defeat in the opening round of the Asian Games here on Sunday could well be Sushil Kumar's final act in a major championship. At 35, time is not Sushil's best ally and back-to-back defeats in his last two bouts makes life that much harder for India's most successful Olympian in individual events. He had lost to Polish grappler Andrzej Piotr Sokalski at the Tbilisi Grand Prix in Georgia last month.
The silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics after the bronze in the previous edition at Beijing in 2008 has placed Sushil among the greatest Indian athletes. But the past few years have been tough for the grappler. Sushil was picked for the Asian Games without him fighting any of the domestic challengers in 74 kg, despite the claims of another contender Praveen Rana that he was robbed of a chance to prove his mettle.
Sushil had beaten Rana in the selection trials for this year's Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (CWG). That bout ended with supporters of both camps resorting to physical violence. Sushil went on to win his third successive CWG gold without much trouble.
In hindsight, the knee injury which has been troubling Sushil for some time appears to have taken a toll on him. Sushil has been saying that he is not finished yet and that his goal is the Tokyo Olympics in two years' time.
Asian Championship gold medallist Muslim Evloev of Kyrgyzstan and Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran of Mongolia - a two-time bronze medalist at the Worlds - were expected to be Sushil's main obstacles in his pursuit of a maiden gold at the Asian Games. But Adam Batirov had other ideas and the Bahraini may well have put an end to Sushil's fantastic career.
