ONE OF India’s top medal prospects and team flag-bearer at the London Olympics, wrestler Sushil Kumar, is unhappy with arrangements after being left without a personal physio, officials said on Friday (July 20).
Kumar, a bronze-medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is upset that the Indian wrestling squad is without a dedicated physiotherapist despite the prospect of multiple, bone-jarring bouts on the same day.
He has even offered to pay from his own pocket for the expenses of national wrestling physio Arvinderpal Singh, who has been working with the team for the past two years but has not been accredited for London.
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) secretary-general Raj Singh said his organisation was trying its best to secure the trainer a place at the competition venues.
“We are trying to get the physio and we are also trying to get a visa for him,” he told reporters.
India’s chief wrestling coach Vinod Kumar added that they planned to meet with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to discuss the problem.
“Sushil wants his own physio and our officials will meet with IOA and hopefully the issue will be resolved,” said Kumar.
Kumar, speaking to the Hindustan Times newspaper, said that a physio was “an important part of the support system in our game.”
“The extremely competitive nature of our sport and the fact that we have to fight four to six bouts in a day makes it imperative that we have a full-time physio. Without him, we can never be at our best,” he added.
