Renowned wrestler and two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar has been appointed sports brand ambassador of Delhi. lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung made an announcement in this regard while felicitating eight Glasgow Commonwealth Games medal winners from Delhi on Friday. Out of these eight sportspersons, six are wrestlers and two are shooters.
This is the first time that the Delhi Government has chosen a wrestler for brand ambassador of Delhi. While announcing Kumar as the Delhi’s brand ambassador, the lt-Governor said, “He is a role model, soft hearted and his feet are on the ground. Youngsters can learn a lot from Sushil Kumar.”
Sushil has overcome hurdles to carve a niche for himself in the world of wrestling. He had won Gold medal in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games at Glasgow in United Kingdom.
Jung felicitated the wrestler along with Yogeshwar Dutt and Amit Dahiya with a shawl and a cheque of Rs14 lakh each. Other sportspersons Bajrang Kumar, Rajeev Tomar and Shrayasi Singh were given cheques of Rs10 lakh each and Mananjeet Singh Sandhu and Pawan Kumar cheques of Rs6 lakh each.
Sushil Kumar had represented India in prestigious Olympic Games three times — 2004 Athens Olympics, 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 london Olympics — in 66 kg free style category of wrestling. He is the first Indian to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals. later talking to reporters, wrestler Sushil Kumar said that it’s a great moment for him. “We should make Delhi a world class city,” he added.
At a felicitation function, Jung said that it is a matter of great pride that eight Delhi sportspersons have brought laurels for the country and Delhi in Commonwealth Games 2014 held at Glasgow.“The efforts made by Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt and Amit Dahiya for the gold medal winning performance are indeed a proud moment for India. The silver medal bagged by Bajrang Kumar, Rajiv Tomar, Shreyasi Singh and bronze medal bagged by Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Pawan Kumar is something which has strengthened our belief in the budding talented youngsters of capital,” Jung said.
“These sportspersons have proved that even with limited financial support, the country can perform better in sports,” the l-G added.Jung further said that the humility of these sportspersons is class apart as juniors can learn a lot from them and imbibe their qualities. “We don’t have any shortage of talent. There might have been a crisis of equipments and modern training but it is now our responsibility to our best for betterment of sports,” the lG said.