Strangely, not a single Wrestling Federation of India official was there to greet Sandeep Tulsi Yadav whose family lives in Mumbai.
NEW DELHI: There were no garlands, no dhols, no wild celebration on Tuesday morning, when India's first Greco-Roman bronze medallist Sandeep Tulsi Yadav landed at the Indira Gandhi Airport on a flight from Budapest.
Unlike the grand welcome for freestyle wrestlers Amit Kumar Dahiya and Bajrang on Friday morning when almost 1,000 well-wishers, family members and officials danced to the beat of drums, Sandeep walked out alone, lugging his bags, wondering why it was business as usual.
Strangely, not a single Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) official was there to greet the achiever whose family lives in Mumbai. "It's not every day that Greco wrestlers win a World medal. We were discussing on the flight back home that probably no one would turn up, and that's exactly what happened," a disappointed Greco-Roman wrestler who returned with Sandeep told TOI.
Sandeep, however, tried to play it down by saying: "Everyone is fast asleep at three in the night. I didn't want to disturb anyone. Par ummeed to sabko rehti hai. If you win something big you expect a grand welcome at the airport.
Anyway, I am not going to lose sleep over this issue as I have to think about improving upon my performance," the 25-year-old told TOI on Tuesday.
Coach Chandar Vijay, who accompanied the team, also tried to avoid wading into the controversy. "Freestyle wrestlers are locals, so their families and well-wishers gathered in huge numbers. Sandeep's family is based in Mumbai and they actually hail from Benaras so...," he said.
But what about the officials who love to take centrestage at felicitation ceremonies? WFI secretary general Raj Singh maintained that the federation had designated the responsibility to chief coach Hargovind. "Hargovind was at the airport with a bouquet to welcome the team. I was busy with some personal work in Karnal so I couldn't go," he said.
However, sources said Hargovind was in Faridkot when Sandeep returned and will return to the capital on Wednesday for the felicitation ceremony. Raj Singh bluntly passed the buck to Indian Railways, saying: "Jiska bachcha hai wahi jaye." Sandeep is employed with Western Railway.
Former coach and mentor of Sushil Kumar, Satpal said he was not even aware of the team's arrival. "Team aa gayi hogi, ya aaj aane wali hogi (the team would have come or would be on its way)," he said.
When informed that the wrestlers are already back, he quickly changed track. "I was not informed. For us all wrestlers are equal. I was out of station. I am not responsible for the federation," he said.
Meanwhile, Sandeep has been offered a promotion and will be given an award of Rs 4 lakh by his employers. Sandeep's journey as a wrestler started after his father's demise in 1998. At 10, Sandeep moved to Mumbai with his mother to stay with his elder brother Sanjay Yadav, a freestyle wrestler. Motivated by his brother's talent, Sandeep started training under Jagmal Singh at the Sports Authority of India centre in Kandiwali.
Talking of his achievement Sandeep said the 15-day sojourn in Hungry before the World championship made the difference. "The training camp in Hungry truly helped us. Wrestlers from around 15-16 countries were training there. It was a good exposure as we later competed with the same wrestlers we had trained with," Sandeep said.
"In Hungary, we discovered that the wrestlers from other countries were at par with us. This gave us the confidence that we could beat them," he added.
Explaining his state of mind, Sandeep admitted he was under pressure before the bronze medal bout. "I was under pressure and felt 'shayad main haar jaunga'. The coaches told me you have six minutes to change your life. The whole team was on my side. I told myself 'six minutes mein mar to nahi jaunga the world will not end in six minutes)'," he elabourated.
He admitted that the divide between freestyle and Greco-Roman has left many grapplers frustrated
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