Will Railwayman Narsingh bring India back on track?

The phrase “coming back from the dead” seems to aptly suit Narsingh Pancham Yadav, the Indian wrestler who is currently set to play his first match on the tenth of August in the Excel Arena at the London Olympics. In 2010, with barely a few months to go for the Commonwealth games, Yadav was down with a right-knee injury that threatened to keep him out of the competition.

It was indeed a major setback for Yadav, considering the circumstances in which he had qualified for the Commonwealth games. By way of good fortune, Yadav had got a call-up for the prestigious games when Sumit Kumar, to whom he had lost in the qualification for the event, was dropped from the squad following a failed dope test. It was indeed a testing time for Yadav. Even his coach Jagmal Singh, under whom he had been training since the age of thirteen, had very little hopes of his timely recovery. But Yadav was not one to be bogged down. After undergoing the knee surgery, he showed a lot of grit in training hard and finally managed to bag the Gold medal in his event at the Commonwealth games.

Being the son of a small-time milk supplier from Jogeshwari, Mumbai, Narsingh, along with his brother, trained rigorously under Jagmal Singh. Narsingh’s father Pancham (who was himself a wrestler) and mother Durgavati completely understood the passion of their sons and encouraged them to pursue the sport. Impressed by his performances, the Central Government rewarded him with a cash price of twenty lakh rupees.

The chances of India winning that elusive gold seem to be diminishing with the conclusion of each event and the passing of each day. India’s chances are now almost considered dead by most sports pundits. Today, Narsingh will be facing 30-year-old Canadian Matthew Judah Gentry in the pre-quarterfinal round of the 74 kg freestyle event. In his earlier meeting with the same opponent in the World Championship at Istanbul last year, Narsingh had lost despite a good fight, so he will go into today’s match as the underdog.

From the suburbs of Jogeshwari to the Excel Arena of the London Olympics, Narsingh has certainly come a long way. All that remains is for us to wait and watch if this ticket-checker from the Indian railways could give us our ticket to glory and change the destiny of Indian sport by winning a medal. After all, he is someone who is known to rise from the dead.