New Delhi: After his plea for selection trial was dismissed by the Delhi High Court, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar will again approach the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and then a larger bench of the same HC before deciding on whether to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
In a major setback to wrestler Sushil’s Olympic dreams, the Delhi High Court today dismissed his plea for a trial against Narsingh Yadav.
A Bench led by Justice Manmohan said though Sushil Kumar is a legendary wrestler, the WFI cannot be held wrong for selecting Narsingh yadav for Rio Olympics.
"We will try our best. We would be speaking to Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) once again and urge it to hold a selection trial. If that doesn't work, we will file an appeal to a double bench of the Delhi High Court," a well-placed source close to Sushil told PTI.
"We may consider approaching the Supreme Court later on as Sushil is the best bet in 74kg category and he must get a chance to show that he is not only capable of going to the Olympics but also winning nothing less than a gold medal there," the source said.
Sushil's mentor and father-in-law Mahabali Satpal, meanwhile, said he was upset with the verdict as he felt that the former world champion was in the form of his life and he should not be denied a chance to at least get a trial.
"Right now Sushil is the fittest ever. He is in the form of his life. His current weight is 78kg and during the training sessions, he is regularly beating wrestlers not just in 74kg category but also in much higher divisions. He has recently beaten a national level wrestler in 120kg category," Satpal said.
Narsingh had secured the Olympic quota place for India last year at the World Championship in Las Vegas after winning a bronze medal.
Going by norms in WFI guidelines, a quota belongs to the country and not to an individual wrestler, and former world champion Sushil pointed out that there should be a trial in 74kg category to decide who would go to Rio.
