Sushil Kumar in Trouble as FIR Filed Against Him and Supporters for Brawl After Defeating Parveen Rana
Their latest clash has come across as an ugly blot in Indian sports history.
An FIR is lodged against wrestler Sushil Kumar after his supporters allegedly assaulted rival Parveen Rana and his brother, Naveen. Delhi Police booked the two-time Olympic-medallist in connection of a wrestling brawl that took place at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. After losing the semi-final bout 7-3 to the star grappler, Parveen claimed Sushil Kumar’s supporters of beating him and his elder brother "for daring to take the ring" against him. This led to a massive fistfight between supporters of two camps, which was recorded on camera.
Sushil Kumar who is making comeback after missing out the action since 2014 Commonwealth Games finds himself in a soup. He and his supporters have been booked under IPC section 341 (wrongful restraint) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), the latter attracting an imprisonment of up to one year or a monetary fine of Rs 1,000 or both. The recent controversy marred his victory and selection for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, to be held in April at Gold Coast, Australia.
According to the PTI reports, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Mandeep Singh Randhawa has confirmed that an FIR has been lodged but the reason behind the brawl was being probed. He added that no formal complaint has been lodged by Parveen or by anyone from his camp so far.
There has been bad blood between Sushil and Parveen for some time now. During the selection trial, opponents in his first contests appeared ‘submissive’ aka respectful in Sushil’s words. He was quoted saying, "You must have seen after the match, the two wrestlers touched my feet and I also put my hand on their head to bless them. The respect between the older and younger wrestlers was there."
However, Parveen refused to acknowledge Sushil’s seniority at the event. Interestingly, he was one of the wrestlers who had conceded a walkover at the finals of 2017 Wrestling Nationals. Parveen later claimed to give up the competition due to an injury. The pair then wrestled at the 2017 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in South Africa, where Parveen lost a close 5-4 bout to Sushil.
Their latest clash has come across as an ugly blot in Indian sports history. After the violent brawl, Sushil tweeted, “It’s very unfortunate and highly condemnable what has happened today at the stadium. I do not support anyone who gets violence in between sportsmanship. My aim is to fight & win for my Nation like a true sportsman & not to win against any group or individual #JaiHind”. With Wrestling Federation of India setting up an enquiry to probe the matter, one has to see if Sushil Kumar is let off the nasty controversy.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 02, 2018 07:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).