#TFGtake: Drama over Sushil Kumar's withdrawal from PWL immature and undignified
THE INAUGURAL SEASON OF Pro Wrestling League lost much of the bang when top wrestler Sushil Kumar pulled out of the league. He was part of team UP Warriors, co-owned by cricketer Rohit Shama. This was a huge setback for the league as the two-time Olympic medallist was one of the icon players.
Rashmi Suleja, Pro Sportify, and PWL governing council member said on Friday that Sushil's "priorities" had changed, and that he was too busy with other professional commitments.
"He (Sushil) has a lot of priorities these days like Roadies (a reality show) and other such things. I think his priorities have changed. He is a busy man," as said to DNA.
Now there are sources close to the wrestler that says "he has not recovered fully from his shoulder injury and did not want to aggravate it by participating in the league".
The PWL organisers should accept this fact and give him the time to recover as a major event is soon approaching next year -- the Olympics. Every athlete dreams of participating in the Olympics and win a medal for the country.
GS Mander, PWL governing council chairman confirmed the wrestler's exit, but also said that no personal statement has yet come from Sushil. When such things happen, it is quite common that various reasons will emerge which may or may not be true.
A report by Hindustan Times states one of the reasons could be that Kumar would have been hurt as the female wrestler from Ukraine Oksana Herhel got higher bid than the Indian. After this the UP franchise out of respect added 11 lakhs more to his pay cheque.
This is when Sushil decided to give the money he receives to charity,
"I have never played for money so I don't know why someone has this view. I will donate the money I will get from the league to charity. By the grace of God I have everything. I don't need money," as told to HT last month.
Sushil Kumar is the only wrestler to have won two medals at the Olympics, why can't the reason about his injury be accepted by the organisers. Kumar also opted out of the World Championships after sustaining a shoulder injury earlier this year and said,
"I have sustained an injury to my right shoulder while practising. So I would not be able to take part in the upcoming selection trials. So, automatically that rules me out of the first qualifying event for next year's Rio Olympic Games," Sushil told PTI.
The injury could only be cured by rest,
"I have been advised by the doctors to take rest. At the moment, I don't know exactly how long my injury will take to heal completely, but I am taking good care."
He will play the qualifying round for Olympics against another Indian wrestler Narsingh Rao which is a greater task for him than the ongoing PWL.
Speaking on the same occasion when he refrained from participating in the World championships he also said,
"I am not keen to take a chance, even though the injury is not so serious. It is not good to take part in a competition half fit. I will be competing in the qualifying events next year before the Rio Olympics and I have been working hard for it."
This can be taken as a worthy reason for his current absence too. In this situation the organisers are the ones who should understand this instead of talking trash about the wrestler. Reasons like he was hurt because he did not get the highest bid or the tweet does not justify his exit.
After he withdrew from the league, Parth Jindal, scion of the JSW group that owns Bengaluru Yodhas took to his official Twitter account and tweeted,
I heard @WrestlerSushil has pulled out of the @Official_PWL - is that how scared you are of @BengaluruYodhas Narsingh, man up Sushil -fight
— Parth Jindal (@ParthJindal11) December 9, 2015
His tweet appears to be healthy banter rather than a "disrespectful comment" that some are trying to spin it into, he himself says that in another tweet
Don't understand why media is going overboard with my statement regarding the Narsingh vs Sushil fight - it is pure banter @Official_PWL
— Parth Jindal (@ParthJindal11) December 10, 2015
Sushil has maintained a dignified silence through all this. The PWL organisers should have the patience for him to believe his statement before jumping into their own assumptions and conclusions.
