new Delhi: Two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar, lodged in the national capital’s Tihar Jail, will teach wrestling and physical fitness tricks to his fellow inmates. Jail officials gave this information on Friday. He said that this step is being taken after the decline in the cases of COVID-19 in the national capital and jail premises.
The Tihar Jail administration says that earlier it had planned to involve Kumar in sports activities, but had to postpone it in view of the third wave of COVID-19 in Delhi. Director General (Delhi Jail) Sandeep Goel told PTI-language, “We had already decided to allow this, but due to the third wave of COVID, we could not do it. Now the situation has returned to normal, in such a situation, regular activities are being restored in the jails. We will allow Sushil Kumar to train interested inmates on wrestling and other physical activities.”
Jail officials say that since Kumar is a trained professional wrestler, his coaching classes related to fitness and wrestling will benefit inmates who want to learn some new sport, while also keeping them fit and fit. He said that this will keep the prisoners busy and such a positive thinking will come in them that their energy is being used in the right direction. He said that this would also help the prisoners to concentrate on their day-to-day work.
In September 2021, ahead of the third wave of COVID-19, the Delhi Jail Department had initiated an initiative to provide professional training to the inmates of Tihar in various sports. Under this, the prisoners were being trained in six sports- Kho-Kho, Volleyball, Badminton, Basketball, Chess and Carrom under the CSR project of Indian Oil Corporation Limited.
Kumar was arrested along with co-accused Ajay Kumar on March 23 last year in connection with the Chhatrasal Stadium case and is currently in jail. Kumar and his associates had allegedly assaulted wrestler Sagar Dhankhar and his friends on the intervening night of May 4-5 and Dhankhar later succumbed to his injuries. (agency)