Sushil and Vijender lift Olympic gloom!

(Left - Sushil taking on his opponent; Right - Vijender in action)

CUE SPORTS INDIA congratulates two Olympic medal winners at Beijing

The Olympic gloom in India after there were no medals in the wake of Abhinav Bindra's gold was lifted when a wrestler and a boxer were assured of the bronze after Wednesday's competition. Sushil Kumar claimed the 66kg Olympic wrestling medal.

Later in the day, Vijender Singh became the first Indian to win an Olympic boxing medal having made the semi-finals with a win over Ecuador's beat Carlos Gongora of Ecuador 9-4 in the quarter-finals of the 75kg middleweight category.

Sushil Kumar had met 10 of the 20 wrestlers participating in the Olympics in his category and had defeated three. He had taken part in the Athens Olympics. Indians train harder than others. The wrestlers derived strength from the fact that 70 per cent of medal-winners in Olympics are Asians with Russia, Turkey, Iran, Cuba, Azerbaijan being the main threats.

Sushil had lost to Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik in the first round of the 66kg freestyle wrestling event, leaving his medal hopes hinging on the repechage. In the repechage first round, Sushil defeated American Doug Schwab. The repechage is done by selecting all of the athletes who were knocked out by the finalists to determine the third place. Repechage tackles the possibility of two top competitors meeting in an early round, allowing the loser a chance to compete for a bronze medal.

Vijender Singh was spotted by the Haryana Amateur Boxing Association in the state school games in 2002. After a few years of proper training, the pugilist from Bhiwani district was ready for the big league. He had the right physique to be a good boxer. He had good height and the right mentality too. "The moment we saw him we knew we had discovered a top performer,'' state coach Rakesh Thakran said."
 

Pradeep Vijayakar :: Wednesday 20 August 2008