Wrestler Sushil Kumar skips US trip after aggravating shoulder injury

Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar's plan to train with the world's top wrestlers in the US has gone awry after he aggravated his shoulder injury while practising with a fellow grappler.

Sushil, who had earlier opted out of the World Championships citing injury, was scheduled to leave with the Indian wrestlers to Las Vegas to take part in the official training camp beginning August 25 at the Orleans Arena.

However, Kumar sustained another injury at the same spot on his right shoulder while practising with his sparring partner, Sumit, in the 74kg category at the Chhatrasal Stadium here in the Capital. The 2010 World Championship gold medallist tried his best to recover in time but later thought of giving the camp a miss, fearing a flare up of the injury.

Kumar confirmed the development, saying "he will try to join the freestyle team in the first week of September". But his father-in-law and coach Satpal Singh said Sushil won't be going to the World Championships training camp.

"Although Sushil is recovering well from his fresh injury, doctors have advised him to take rest and give the injury proper time to heal. It won't be wise to aggravate the injury for two reasons: one, there is no point risking the injury as all the top wrestlers will be participating in the training camp and second, there will be six more qualifying events before the Olympics," Satpal said on Tuesday.

"It was mutually decided to withdraw his name as it will give Sushil ample time to recover from his injury and get competition ready. Sushil would have benefited from the US stint and the event organisers were also looking ahead to his presence. He will be back in another two to three months by participating in invitational tournaments. He is very close to getting back to his top shape," added Satpal.

The camp would have given Kumar an opportunity to train with some of the top wrestlers of the world in order to assess his progress after recovering from the shoulder injury. Kumar is eyeing an Olympic qualification berth by getting into competition mode.

That was the reason the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) accepted Kumar's proposal to allow him to accompany the squad. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) had also released funding from its Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for his training programme.