Revision as of 19:49, 23 July 2016

Narsingh Yadav in 2015

Narsingh Yadav in July 2016, just before the Rio Olympics

Career

Dhananjay Roy, Mumbai, Jul 23 2016 : The Times of India

Gravitating towards wrestling was an easy choice for Narsingh, now 26. His father was a wrestler in their village Neema in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi district. The family later moved to Mumbai, seeking a change in financial fortunes.

“My father was keen that we have wrestlers in our family . I grew up watching him and picked up the basics from him. It felt really nice when I wrestled in school and was called in front of the class and children clapped for me. Of course I lost at times, but I mostly won. The fact that my father owned a dairy ensured that I got the required diet,“ recalled Narsingh.

Ever since he was cajoled into joining Sports Authority of India's (SAI) centre in Kandivali by coach Jagmal Singh 10 years ago in the 50kg category , Narsingh's progress has been steady . “He is a great talent spotter. He saw me as a youngster at the akhara in Jogeshwari and asked me to train under him at SAI.He promised to make me a good wrestler. I liked staying at home and was not keen on joining the hostel, but he convinced me to do it. He has been the pillar of my progress,“ Narsingh said of Jagmal.

Narsingh could not qualify for the Beijing Olympics because he was nursing a torn ligament at that time. Two years later, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, he got injured once again but recovered just in time for the trials. Lady luck intervened to ensure he contested the CWG and ended up winning gold! “I felt I was the best wrestler at the trials in the 74kg category , but ended up losing the final. I was devastated. But as destiny would have it, my opponent tested positive for some illegal substance and I was given an opportunity to fight. After that I won a lot of accolades. People began respecting me. It helped me forge an identity . It felt really nice.“

A couple of years later, Narsingh qualified for the London Olympics but did little of note there. He was crestfallen but the two medals India won in wrestling ­ Sushil Kumar (silver) and Yogeshwar Dutt (bronze) ­ fired his dream once again.

2015

World Wrestling Championship

The Times of India, Sep 14 2015

Narsingh Pancham Yadav secured an Olympic quota place for India after bagging a bronze medal in the Men's 74kg Freestyle category , giving the country a reason to cheer at the World Wrestling Championship here. With his thirdplace finish, Narsingh became the lone Indian to win a medal at the prestigious tournament as well as book a berth for the 2016 Rio Games. Top six in each category qualifies for the Olympics. This is the first time that an Indian wrestler has earned an Olympic berth with a medal at the World Championship.

Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar's absence from the mat for over an year now has made Narsingh a regular in the 74kg division.

It will now be interesting to see who between the veteran Sushil or 26-year-old Narsingh ultimately board the flight to Rio next year to represent India in this category.

As per rules, an Olympic berth is for the country concerned and not the wrestler who might have clinched it. Narsingh came up with some dominating performances, defeating Hanoc Rachamin of Israel 14-2 before getting the better of Soner Demirtas of Turkey 4-3 and Cuba's Livan Lopez Azcuy 16-5 to advance to the semifinal. But in his semifinal bout, Narsingh went down to Unurbat Purevjav of Mongolia.

However, in his bronze medal play-off, he got his act together to outplay Zelimkhan Khadjiev of France 12-8 to make it to the podium. Arun, meanwhile, did well to beat Tat Du Can of Vietnam 7-0 and Semen Radulov of Ukraine 5-4 to advance to the quarterfinal round. But he lost to local wrestler James Malcolm Green 0-10 in the last-eight stage.

2016

He was the man representing India in wrestling's 74kg freestyle category at the Rio Olympics, and not the legendary Sushil Kumar, who cho unsuccessfully,se, to move court in a last-ditch effort to force a trial in early May.

In those difficult times, Narsingh never pushed his own case, always believing that he was doing enough on the mat to let people judge for themselves. As things stand, fortune favoured him.