Narsingh Pancham Yadav Puts Onus On Wrestling Federation for Rio Olympics Berth

Putting the onus squarely on the wrestling authorities whether he or star grappler Sushil Kumar should fly to the Rio Olympics after winning a quota place at the recent World Championships, Narsingh Yadav said he was very keen to win the bronze medal in Las Vegas. (Narsingh Yadav Books India's Place for 2016 Rio Olympics)

     

"I was very keen to win a medal in the World Championships (in USA). Now it's upto the federation (WFI) to decide whether I should be sent to the Rio Olympics. But thus far in history only the person who had clinched the quota berth has been sent," said the 26-year-old Yadav, who bagged the bronze in the Vegas Worlds in spectacular style.

     

A raging debate has started whether Yadav, a Deputy Superintendent in the Maharashtra Police and supported by JSW, or two-time Olympic medalist (bronze in 2008 and silver in 2012), Sushil, should represent the country in the 74kg category at next year's Rio Games after the former's brilliant come-from-behind win in the USA to nail the quota berth in this weight class for the country.

     

Yadav was trailing France's Chechen-born Zelimkhan Khaddjiev 4-12 with less than a minute to go in their bronze play-off when he stunned his opponent by holding his head and flipping Khadjiev over his shoulder like a rag doll on his back before pinning him down for a victory by fall.

     

Recalling the bout, after watching the replay of the end moments on a giant screen behind him with the reporters, Yadav said that it was his only chance to clinch the bout and the medal after trailing by such a big margin.

     

"I led 4-0 initially, but then was down 4-12 and knew that my only chance was to win by a fall. I had used this technique in 2013 at the Colorado Springs (in USA where this time too the grapplers trained for the World Championships) to win a bout. It's called 'dhak' in mud wrestling and I have done mud wrestling in my formative years," said Yadav.

     

"It wasn't the ideal situation to be in. I controlled the pace and picked up points in the first round. In the second my opponent put me under pressure to pick up points quickly, but I was confident of my own skills and just went for the 'dhak'. I am happy to win the medal after such a dramatic match," he said.