By IANS,
New Delhi : A grand reception awaits wrestler Sushil Kumar when he returns home in the wee hours Sunday with the bronze medal around his neck.
A mad rush is expected at the Indira Gandhi International Airport when Sushil arrives, as he is ‘Sada Dilliwala’ (our own Delhi boy).
Apart from Sushil’s family members and relatives and almost the entire Baprola village in Najafgarh from which Sushil hails, all his fellow wrestlers, coaches and officials will be present at the airport to receive the star performer.
Around seventy wrestlers who train at the Chattarsal Stadium in North Delhi here alongside Sushil are counting the hours for his flight to land in the national capital.
“It is going to be a welcome that everyone will remember. We have ordered for banners and two-three trucks have already been booked to ferry wrestlers to the airport,” Sushil’s coach Yashvir Singh told IANS.
Sushil rose through the ranks at the Chattarsal stadium where there is no end to the festivities since he won the medal.
“He (Sushil) has given a new reason for us to continue wrestling. We will all be there with Dhols at the airport. We want to make it a memorable moment for him,” said Arvind, his roommate.
“We were all glued to television Wednesday and after that we distributed sweets and danced,” Arvind said.
Yashvir said Delhi chief Minister Sheila Dikshit would felicitate Sushil at a function Sunday.
“She said the Delhi government should be the first one to felicitate Sushil. She has called Sushil Sunday morning for the felicitation. We will then see if we can meet the Prime Minister and the President” he said.
Indian sportspersons apart from cricketers are not used to such rapturous welcome, but
the gold conquest of shooter Abhinav Bindra and Sushil Kumar’s bronze victory seem to have struck an emotional chord with the public. The Olympics seems to have produced new sporting icons for the country from disciplines not considered glamorous so far.