Wrestlers will win at least five medals at Rio, says Sushil

Buoyed by India’s best-ever performance at the World Championships, Olympic heroes Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt vowed to settle for nothing less than at least five medals in the next edition at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Buoyed by India’s best-ever performance at the World Championships, Olympic heroes Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt vowed to settle for nothing less than at least five medals in the next edition at Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

India finished with three medals at the recently concluded World Championship at Budapest, Hungary.

“We are targeting at least 4-5 medals at the Rio Olympics. We have started preparing ourselves in that direction and we will settle for nothing less than a gold medal. The World Championship medals have changed the future of the Indian wrestling for the better. This will start a new culture of wrestling in the country,” Sushil said.

On Bharat Ratna Sushil also said it would have been a “disappointing and wrong decision” on the part of the government if the Home Ministry had their way in not awarding the Bharat Ratna to sportspersons.

According to a media report, file notings, accessed through RTI, revealed that the ministry was initially not in favour of widening the scope of Bharat Ratna. “No Bharat Ratna for sportspersons would have been a wrong decision. It would have hurt the feelings of our athletes who put their blood, sweat and tears,” said Sushil.