Sushil Kumar to skip trials for Asian Olympic qualifiers

The wrestler has attributed the decision to a lack of training in the past few months.

Sushil Kumar has taken a rather tough decision to skip the selection trials for the upcoming Asian Olympic qualifiers, scheduled to take place in K D Jadhav indoor wrestling hall on Tuesday, as reported by Times of India.

The objective of the trials is to find probables to compete in the Asian leg of the Olympic qualifiers in wrestling and also the Asian Championships. The Olympic qualifier will take place in Kazakhstan from April 9-11. Following this will be the Asian Championships from April 13-18, to be hosted at the same venue.

The silver medallist in the 2012 London Olympics has indicated lack of a healthy frame of mind for the decision, due to the ongoing controversy in the School Games Federation of India, of which he is the acting President. “The forgery committed in my name took a toll on my mental health and I wasn’t focusing 100 percent on my training. Now that I have started practising again, any event or Tokyo qualifier coming up next will see my participation.” he said.

“It has always been my mantra that I don’t compete in tournaments without proper training. When you are performing for the country, you want to be fully fit and committed,” Sushil further added in a video message.

Sushil Kumar, however, has quashed any rumours of retiring from the sport of wrestling and will continue to take part in future events. The World Olympic qualifiers are scheduled in Sofia, Bulgaria from May 6 and Sushil is looking forward to the meet. 

However, he will lose the chance to represent India at the Tokyo Games 2020, if another wrestler manages to clinch qualification in the 74kg category at the Asian leg of the Olympic qualifier. The 74kg category is highly-competitive and wrestlers like Narsingh Yadav, Jitendra Kumar, Gourav Baliyan and reigning national champion Sandeep Singh Mann will be looking to stake a claim.

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