Tokyo dreams still not over for two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar

When two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar requested the Wrestling Federation of India to postpone the trials of the 74kg Men's Freestyle, many had expected the governing body to yield. However, the trials went ahead as scheduled, sans the legendary grappler, who was left to nurse his injured shoulder and bruised ego.

In fact, in the absence of Sushil, the 74kg category saw a record number of entries. In the end, Jitendar, proved his mettle and sealed his spot in India's squad (as was announced initially by WFI) for the next three tournaments — the ranking series tournament (to be held in Rome from January 15-18), the Asian Wrestling Championships (in New Delhi from February 18-23) and the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament (in Xian, China from March 27 to 29).

Or so he thought. WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, on Saturday, announced that if the performances of the wrestlers are not satisfactory in the first two tournaments, fresh trials can be held before the Xian event.

"If we find that performances of our wrestlers is not satisfying at the first two events, we can have fresh trials to select wrestlers for the Asian Olympic qualifier. We want to send our best wrestler, so that India can have maximum number of quotas for Olympics,” Sharan told PTI.

“If we are happy with the performance of our wrestlers in Olympic categories, where we have not got the quota, we will not have trials. As for Sushil, no one will be allowed to go for Olympic qualifiers, without having to compete in trials,” he added.

What it essentially means is that Sushil still has a glimmer of hope to make to the team for March's qualification meet. If Jitendar has to earn a shot at the Tokyo Olympic qualification, he will have to impress with medal-winning performances in Rome and New Delhi.

Having said that, Sushil's chances of making it to Tokyo are no longer in his hands. If Jitendar performs well in Rome and at the Asian Championships and then go on to win an Olympic quota from the qualification tournament in Xian, Sushil will be left biting the dust.