Gill sports attitude, snubs wrestler Sushil's coach

Gill

asked Singh to move out of the frame and sought out only Yashvir, the national coach who had accompanied the Indian team comprising Sushil Kumar and others to the world championship in Moscow, for the photo session.

While Singh and Kumar expressed their unhappiness over the incident, Gill did not offer any apology to the coach even after the incident was shown on television channels repeatedly leading to outrage among sports lovers.

The incident occurred when Sushil Kumar, along with Singh and Yashvir, went to Gill’s official residence on a courtesy call on the wrestler’s return to India after winning the unprecedented world championship gold on Sunday.

Gill, seeing Singh approach him after he sought out Kumar’s coach for a photograph, asked him to move away and said the coach who had accompanied the team to Moscow should instead be in the photograph. However, he later was seen trying to make amends by asking Satpal, too, to come into the frame.

“I did not like it. But this is a happy occasion, so let’s talk about Sushil’s achievement,” Satpal said on the incident. “I don’t know why he (Gill) did that. You have to ask him. My job is to coach. I coached Sushil for so many years and I will continue to produce more wrestlers,” he said.Kumar also was hurt by the incident. He said: “He (Satpal) is my guru.  I have a lot of respect for him.”“He has trained me since childhood. He is coach to over 900 kids. If a coach is insulted, his pupil also feels insulted,” Kumar said.

Gill last year committed a similar faux pas, when he had asked former All-England Championship winner and currently badminton ace Saina Nehwal’s coach P Gopichand to introduce himself when they had gone to meet him.

 Sushil Kumar and Satpal Singh, however, did not face any more embarrassment later in the day, when the wrestler was felicitated by the Indian Railways. Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa presented Kumar, an officer with the Northern Railway, with a cheque for Rs 10 lakh and a memento on behalf of the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB).

The RSPB award is in addition to another Rs 10 lakh announced on Monday by Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee for Kumar.