Asian Games 2018: Sushil Kumar promises to fight back after first round exit

Veteran Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar today asserted that his career is far from being over despite a disappointing first round exit from the Asian Games putting a question mark on his futureThe twotime Olympic medallist Indian suffered a stunning 35 loss in the first qualification round bout against Bahrains Adam Batirov in the mens 74 kg category here But the 35yearold who won a bronze and a silver respectively in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics said he was determined to make a strong comebackIt the defeat was not expected The 57 kg world champion was sitting beside me and he said he lost I told him dont worry I have lost lost Its part of sport I will come back again Sushil told reporters We cant be overwhelmed by defeats or victories It wont lead you anywhere he added Sushil came into the Asian Games after losing his first bout in four years at Tbilisi Grand prix in Georgia last month Though he grabbed his third Commonwealth Games gold in April the competition at Gold Coast was not a tough one with none of the Asian wrestling power houses in the fieldHis form was in question and his exemption from the trials was not appreciated by some quarters in countrys wrestling circle Now 35 Sushil lost steam against Batirov in the second period He was trailing but neither he had the energy nor the power to turn the tables on his rival who is the brother of twotime Russian Olympic champion Mavlet Batirov Asked if he is losing stamina with age Sushil dismissed the suggestionNo If I was losing stamina I would not have lasted full time I would have been defeated earlier I was not passive I am a tapasvi I am enjoying my game I am not tired The day I get tired I will tell you he said Sushil was not aggressive enough in his bout but he defended his tacticsIt was not a slow start If I am leading I cant attack much I made a mistake by attacking him later on when I just needed to defend I am playing a big event after four years that is why there were small mistakes I did not play many big events in four years There was not much time between CWG and Asian Games so I could not play better tournaments to prepare This is the only reason for todays defeat he added The World Championship is approaching and Sushil said he will plan for itThe Asian Championship is like World Championship Olympic champions are from Asia I am not sure if I will go to Georgia for training or not said Sushil Wrestling Federation India President Brij Bhushan Sharan who is also Indias Chef de Mission said Sushil was the best option in 74kg and the WFI has no regrets in exempting him from trialsIf we had not given him a chance then also there would have been questions We had to give him this chance He is our best wrestler in this category Sharan said Meanwhile there were murmurs that Sushil might have played his last multisporting event A source in the WFI said Sushil may not be picked for World Championship and there is a possibility that he himself makes way for some other wrestler in this categoryLook he is ageing He is still fighting and that is also laudable You never know if he skips World Championship on his own the source said on condition of anonymityAlso Read Asian Games 2018 Wrestler Sushil Kumar Suffers Shock Defeat In 74 Kg CategoryCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever