Yet to book Rio berth, Sushil lines up champion coaches

NEW DELHI: Two of the most iconic wrestlers from the United States could soon be assisting India’s two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar in his quest for a third shot at the podium, in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

Talks are on to get Kurt Angle — a superstar in pro-wrestling events and also the amateur circuit where he won the World Championships in 1995 and Olympic gold in the heavyweight category — his brother Eric and three-time world champion in 74kg category Lee

Kemp was the US national team coach when the current star in 74kg category and reigning Olympic gold-medallist and two-time world champion, Jordan Burroughs, broke through the ranks.

“My Olympic Games preparations are going on well at the moment,” Sushil, who is training at the Sports Authority of India’s Bhalgarh centre in Sonepat, said.

“I am planning a few training programmes where I will get to work with foreign experts. After this, I will only need the best wishes from everyone,” added Sushil.

The original training programme will venues — Pittsburgh and Michigan — and cost nearly R2 crore. Under TOPS, Sushil has been allocated ₹75 lakh, out of which he will get only ₹60 as he has spent a part of the allocation on his training schedule in Georgia last year. The balance amount has to be raised.

“We have approached a few corporates to raise the amount. We are very much hopeful of a positive response soon,” said Raman Raheja, whose company, Super Sports, handles Sushil’s commercial interests.

Raheja added that there may be a change in the original training plan if they fall short of money “The plan Michigan) but we can tweak it a bit too. We can get Lee to train Sushil in Georgia for three weeks to save money and then shift the training base to the US with Angles. Let’s see,” said Raheja.

READY FOR TRIALS

While Sushil’s Olympic dream is some months away, Sushil’s immediate focus is to compete against young Narsingh Pancham Yadav in the trials to represent India in the 74kg category. Sushil was guarded in his response when asked about his chances. “I want to represent India and to do that I will compete in the trials and be ready for it ”