Eager for Olympic berth, Sushil gears up

New Delhi: He is desperate to grab the first available berth for next year`s London Olympics at the World Championships but ace Indian grappler Sushil Kumar concedes it would be no stroll in the park to clinch a second successive gold at the event starting September 12 in Turkey.

The Beijing Olympics bronze-medallist in the 66kg men`s freestyle category is eager to book his London ticket in the World Championships as it will give him ample time to prepare for the quadrennial extravaganza. The affable wrestler, in fact, gave the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship in Melbourne a miss keeping in mind the world tourney. "I hope to qualify for the Olympics in the World Championships. I don`t want to wait for other qualifying events because the sooner I qualify it will give me more time to prepare for the Olympics," Sushil told reporters. "I skipped the Commonwealth Championships because I would have needed to lose weight twice for the tournament which was not wise before a big tournament like the World Championships.”"My present focus is only on the World Championship. I have been training hard for the World Championships and I hope to give my 100 per cent there," he added. The first eight male and female wrestlers in each category in the World Championships will qualify for the London Games. From there, continental championships in early 2012 will allow the top wrestler in each weight category from the European, Asian, African and Pan-American tournaments to qualify for the Games.If a wrestler finishing top in a continental championship has already qualified at the Worlds, the place is offered to the next highest-ranked wrestler. PTI