New Delhi: Two men from the fringes of Indian sports made their way to the top of the world on Wednesday, August 20, 2008. This was until now is the greatest day for India at the Olympics.
It started with wrestler Sushil Kumar who lost his 1st bout in the morning in the 66kg freestyle category; the man who beat him went on to the final and that put Sushil into a contention for bronze under 'epechage.
It was a long road; he had to beat three wrestlers to get to the podium. Doug Schwab of USA went down to Sushil in round one, Albert Batyrov from Belarus in the second round and only Kazakhstan's Leonid Spiridinov stood between Sushil and a 10-year dream.
In a fantastic bout of wrestling, Sushil emerged victorious on points. This is India’s second medal at Beijing and the first in wrestling since 1952.
Later boxer Vijender Kumar went into the ring knowing that he was Indian boxing's last man standing, and that this fight stood between him and a guaranteed medal.
Vijender was never in doubt in his quarter-final match with Ecuador's Carlos Gongora.
Quick on his feet, Vijender quickly raced away to win the first two rounds without any trouble.
He took a 4-1 lead and kept the good work going in the next two rounds, and thus made sure that those eight minutes resulted in a third Olympic medal for India.
The story is not over yet for Vijender as he fights his semi-final bout on Friday and a nation will hope that his dream run continues all the way to gold.
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