Indian wrestlers have great chance of winning medals in London Olympics: Sushil Kumar

According to Beijing Olympics bronze medallist Sushil Kumar, Indian wrestlers are capable of winning medals in not just one but in all the four men's categories they are competing in the upcoming London Olympics.

"Narsingh (Pancham Yadav) is good, he has been around for some time now. He has competed against some of the best wrestlers and managed to beat them. Amit (Kumar Dahiya) is a bit younger, but then he is very talented and there is always a scope in the 55kg category, so we are hoping the best of the results for our country this time," said Sushil, according to a report in the Indian Express.

Besides Sushil, another bright medal prospect is the experienced Yogeshwar Dutt, who missed out by a whisker four years ago in Beijing. "Last time around he missed the medal by just a whisker and to be very honest, more than me it was Yogeshwar, who was expected to pull a medal for India at Beijing," Sushil said of his friend.

According to a report in The Hindu, a thrilled Indian women’s basketball team said it would derive great encouragement from its gold medal success at the third Asian Beach Games earlier this week, having prevailed over physically stronger opponents in a demanding format.

“It’s a big step for women’s basketball. The other sides were extremely physical, but we had good understanding and played as a team. I can’t believe we won,” said captain Geethu Anna Jose, speaking at a reception organised by the Basketball Federation of India on the team’s arrival from Haiyang, China, here on Thursday.

Meanwhile India's leading middle-distance runner OP Jaisha's dream of representing the country in the London Games has crashed. She was supposed to compete in a series of 1,500m event on the European circuit, beginning June 24, but is yet to recover from a stress fracture. According to a report in Hindustan Times, since she has just started jogging, her chances of achieving the London qualification mark before the July 8 deadline looks unlikely.

Jaisha, along with long-distance runner Kavita Raut, Preeja Sreedharan and steeplechase runner Sudha Singh, are based in Italy for the past some time. The athletes are training under world-renowned athletics expert Claudio Berardelli.

India's distance coach Jasvinder Singh Bhatia, coordinating with his Italian counterpart, confirmed the development, saying, "Jaisha isn't 100 per cent fit. It will be difficult for her to regain lost fitness," said Bhatia.