Sushil Kumar signs up with Olympic Gold Quest

Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar on Friday signed up with a sports foundation, Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), from which he will get training and financial assistance for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sushil will also be a Special Advisor to the OGQ Board on wrestling and will help identify and support talented young wrestlers.

Sushil is the only Indian athlete to win two individual Olympic medals and has also won the World Championship in 2010.

"My target is to win the Gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics and I know that I need to work twice as hard and carefully plan my training schedule for the next 3 years. This is where I would require OGQ's support with special focus on physiotherapy and medical support," said Sushil, who won silver at the London 2012 Olympics and a bronze in 2008.

With this, OGQ now supports two wrestlers including Praveen Rana who fights in the 74kg free style category.

"I believe that OGQ can help take his performance to the next level and win the Gold at the Rio Olympics. We are very lucky to have Sushil as an advisor on Wrestling. He has more than a decade of experience and he has inspired a new generation of young kids to take up wrestling and dream big," said Badminton legend and Director of the organisation Prakash Padukone.

"It felt weird because it is an ancient game and has been there since the start of the Olympics. In September, the game will be included again," Kumar said.

The grappler has signed up with OGQ, founded by badminton ace Prakash Padukone and billiards great Geet Sethi, for the Rio de Janerio Olympics in 2016. He will also help the sports foundation to identify and groom the young talent.

"They have appointed me as an advisor for wrestling. I believe the base the youngsters get through OGQ is a good thing. It is almost like China. Earlier China didn't have medals but now they are giving stiff competition to US. That is the kind of role OGQ is playing and it will be fun to work with them," he said.

The ace grappler is focusing on the Budapest World Championships, scheduled from September 16-22, and not thinking about next year's Commonwealth and Asian Games.

"Now the World Championship is there so I am focusing on that and training accordingly. I had the shoulder injury (before 2010 Asian Games). It happened before the Olympics and after it as well. Now, I have associated with OGQ, they have good doctors and physios," he said.

"It would be wrong to say before I participate that I want to be the world champion. In world championship, everybody is equal. I will try to give my 100 per cent," he added.

The 30-year-old said he wants to give his best shot at the 2016 Olympics.

"Now there are three World Championships but the Olympics is on the back of my mind and I know I have to do well at Rio. I just follow the coaches. I hope to do the best at Rio," he said.

Sushil further added that the planned IPL-style wrestling league will be a boost for the sport.

"They should try to organise more international tournaments. The federation is going to start a tournament like the IPL. It will benefit us because we will get exposure at home and the standard would be of international level.

"The Federation is still planning it, but it will be conducted very soon. The national championship is in October, so it could happen before that, I think. I will participate in the tournament," he said. From among the new crop of wrestlers, Sushil said he has been impressed by Parveen Rana, Pradeep Kumar, Jaideep and Sumit.

On the new FILA rules, he said it will take a few months to get used to those.

"Rules keep changing, like it did after Athens Olympics. It will take at least 4-5 months to get adjusted to the new rules. Because it is a speed game, man-to-man game and mistakes are bound to happen, so it will take time to adjust.

"It is to create an interest in wrestling that they keep changing the rules," he said.