Three medals full

The day India got two medals, one bronze and the other upgradable to gold or silver. The day India’s grassroots aspirations found utterance at the Olympics. The day the wrestler from Chhatrasal and the boxer from Bhiwani combined to show that winning could be, and should be, a habit with India.

The day, also, when Sushil Kumar grabbed the second chance fate dealt him and learnt by the dint of application that “repechage” — the new format introduced in wrestling in the Beijing Olympics — is French for “rescue”. The day when Vijender Kumar knew he will live another bout to try to make good Bhiwani’s reputation as a Little Cuba by setting up a semi-final bout with a man from that Caribbean island.

Together, they have made sure that India will return from these Olympics with at least three medals, making it — remarkably — the country’s most successful Games. Sushil Kumar received his bronze medal in men’s 66-kg freestyle wrestling from Sergey Bubka. Vijender was assured of a bronze but fights Cuban Emilio Correa Bayeaux on Friday for a place in the middle weight (75 kg) final.

On Wednesday morning, Sushil Kumar had a bye in his first-round and was then eliminated by a man called Andriy Stadnik from Ukraine. The able Mr Stadnik rapidly beat every opponent who came in his way to the final, which he lost. But no matter to Sushil. Stadnik’s presence in the final transformed Sushil from a man who had been “crashed out” of the event into a contender once again.

Such are the rules of “repechage”. Every competitor who had lost to an eventual finalist then got to play a knock-out format for two bronze medals.

Vijender, with his filmstar good looks, played a cool bout against the left-handed Carlos Gongora of Ecuador. The 22-year-old used a deft mix of right guard and right counterpunch to take the bout 9:4.

Earlier in the evening, his Bhiwani Boxing Club mate, Jitender Kumar, showed what it means to take it on the chin. Jitender, whose participation itself had been somewhat in peril after he suffered an injury in his pre-quarterfinal bout, had to have 10 stitches. The 20-year-old nonetheless fought a brave bout to lose 15:11 to the crowd favourite, Russian Georgy Balakshin, at the Worker’s Gymnasium. He basically lost it in the third round which went 2:6.

... contd.