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What's the story?
Sushil Kumar, the two-time Olympic medallist, claimed a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg, marking his return to the wrestling mat in India colours, completely dominating his opponent. He defeated local man Johannes Botha 8-0 in the final of the 74 kgs category and dedicated his victory to his coach Satpal Singh and the country.
In case you didn't know
Sushil Kumar has previously won three gold medals in the freestyle category and a bronze medal in the Greco-Roman category at the Commonwealth Championships in the past.
This year, there were only five participants in the 74 kgs category and Sushil defeated compatriot, Parveen Rana in the earlier round before facing off against South Africa's Johannes.
Parveen was a part of the controversy surrounding Sushil Kumar's victory in the Nationals wherein he was one of the three wrestlers who had bowed down to touch the Olympic medallists' feet and refused to compete against him out of respect, to give the elite wrestler a walk over to the title.
The heart of the matter
Sushil had taken a sabbatical from competitive wrestling after being unable to make the cut for the 2016 Rio Olympics and had not participated in any competition until the National which was held in November.
This gold medal at the Commonwealth Championships comes after a gap of almost three years for him and he thus dedicated the win to his guru, Satpal Singh and the nation with an emotional tweet.
What's next?
Though one can say that the Commonwealth Championships are essentially not as competitive on the international circuit, it will serve as an important stepping stone in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games which are to be held in 2018.
Author's Take
The medal will definitely boost Sushil confidence taking the media light away from the recent controversies towards his achievements. Let's hope that Sushil Kumar takes this performance forward to achieve greater things for India.
