LONDON: The Boy from Baprola became a man in Beijing four years ago, away from the spotlight, away from the prying eyes of the media which was chasing some wannabe heroes. On Sunday, at the Excel Arena here, he became a superman-right under the spotlight, inside a rocking stadium, in the arms and hoarse voices of hundreds of celebrating Indians. A humble, shy, reticent, smiling superman.
This tag would sit easy on the shoulders of the first Indian to win back-to-back individual medals in
the Olympic Games but the man himself looked at history with those honest eyes, with a clear and uncluttered vision.
Like the boy who first learnt to dream on shared mattresses and dingy dormitories as a 14-year-old, away from the warmth of his mother's hug and the comforting shadow of a doting father who drove DTC buses on maddening Delhi roads.
"I came to hear the national anthem play... I made that promise to myself in Beijing after winning bronze. I failed to do that and now I have to be satisfied with the silver," Sushil said after losing to Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu from Saitama (Japan) in the 66kg freestyle final, his voice laced with disappointment.
Yes, he was disappointed. Having fought his way into the final with menacing dominance and a hint of impatience and anger as he got past his semifinal opponent from Kazakhstan, Akzhurek Tanatarov, Sushil was desperate to go all the way. But three hours after the break, he was not there. Two rounds, four minutes and it was over. Sushil could not believe it. He slapped his thighs in frustration and looked into the stands, his eyes blank.
He was listless inside the ring and he knew that but could not do anything about it. He had suffered from stomach cramps, loose motions and even vomited thrice after the semifinal. He was dehydrated and angry with himself.
At the medal ceremony, he stood quiet, looking crestfallen. The photographers asked him to pose and smile and bite the medal. He obliged, reluctantly, eyes down, a sombre look on face.
He went into the final with a blue strap around his left shoulder which was a bit stiff after having lifted the Kazakh wrestler and throwing him down in the semifinal bout. But he did not complain about that. After the final, he did not feel anything, he was comfortably numb.
There was a time in his life after Beijing, when he could not even lift his left hand; there was a time when he was even struggling to qualify for the London Games. But he came here having conquered all that-the physical pain, the recurring doubts, the moments of pure helplessness.
On Sunday, he was in control for most of the time, except in the final when his body failed him and his mind let go. But he still walked away a superman, with that trademark wrestler's swagger and a shake of his head.
Earlier in the afternoon, he had lived his silver moment and gone through a roller-coaster ride of emotions. He celebrated like a schoolboy after beating his 25-year-old Kazakh rival in the semifinal and on the way out jumped into the stands in the arms of his family members, draped in the tricolour.
Sushil had cruised through the first period in that bout but was stunned by the Kazakh's resilience and technique in the second period. The final period was a humdinger. Sushil went into the attack but the Kazakh defended well and suddenly flipped Sushil over with a smart move for three points. The Indians in the stands got desperate but Sushil was cool.
He snatched a point, pinned Tanatarov down and then lifted him and rolled him over. 3-3. Sushil did not let go of the grip and rolled the Kazakh once more for another three points. It was 6-3 with just a few seconds to go. In between, the Kazakh protested, indicating Sushil had bitten him but the referee ignored it. It was over.
There was talk of the Kazakhs planning a protest but that was all hogwash. In wrestling, no protests are entertained after a bout is over. The Kazakh was bleeding from the right ear but that injury was purely accidental. Ask Sushil who himself walked out with swollen, cracked, bleeding lips. In this contact sport, where a slap of your opponent can leave you hurting for weeks, a clipped ear is par for the course.
Sushil's day in the ring had started with a tentative win over his Turkish opponent Ramazan Sahin, the gold medallist at Beijing. In the quarterfinals, he fought hard to beat 23-year-old Ikhtiyor Navruzov from Bukhara (Uzbekistan) in three periods. After that, you knew it was coming.
Sushil wanted a gold medal; you wanted it too but the silver was satiating, coming on the last day of the Games. You walked away with six medals in the bag and thousand of images in the heart - the pride of place going to a superman with bulging muscles, cracked lips and cauliflower ears.
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
