Sushil Kumar

Biography

Sushil Kumar (born 26 May 1983) is a former Indian wrestler. He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. His 2008 Olympic medal was the second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav's bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. 

In July 2009, he received the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna – India's highest honor for sportspersons. On 3 October 2010, Kumar handed the Queen's Baton to Prince Charles in the Queen's Baton Relay for the 2010 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. 

Sushil won the gold medal in the 74 kg division at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Sushil won the gold medal in the 74 kg division at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Kumar started training in pehlwani at the Chhatrasal Stadium's akhada at the age of 14. He was trained at the akhada by Yashvir and Ramphal, later by Arjuna awardee Satpal, and then at the Indian Railways camp by Gyan Singh and Rajkumar Baisla Gurjar.

After switching to freestyle wrestling Kumar's first success came at the World Cadet Games in 1998 where he won the gold medal in his weight category, followed by a gold at the Asian Junior Wrestling Championship in 2000. 

Moving out of the junior competitions, in 2003 Kumar won the bronze medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships and a gold at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships. 

Kumar placed fourth at the 2003 World Championships, but this went largely unnoticed by the Indian media as he fared badly in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, placing 14th in the 60 kg weight class.

 He won gold medals at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in 2005 and 2007. He placed seventh in the 2007 World Championships and won a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

 He won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, becoming the first person to win two Olympic medals for independent India. Kumar was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2006 and a coveted Padma Shree by the Indian Government in 2011.