Sushil Kumar Solanki

Sushil Kumar did India proud by winning the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by defeating Kazakhstan's Leonid Spiridonov in the repechage round. But Sushil's road to the London Olympics has not been easy.

Sushil struggled with a series of injuries in the past year and disappointments in various international events. Sushil finally qualified for the London Olympics when he outclassed 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Tushishvili Otar 3-0 on his way to a gold medal in the 66kg category at the World qualifying tournament in Taiyuan (China) in April 2012.

For the bronze medal at 2008 Beijing Olympics, Sushil was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, India's highest sporting honour.

Sushil Kumar Solanki Medal Record

2003 - Gold (60 kg) - London Commonwealth Championship
2003 - Bronze (60 kg) - New Delhi Asian Championships
2005 - Gold (66 kg) - Cape Town Commonwealth Championship
2007 - Gold (66 kg) - London Commonwealth Championship
2007 - Silver (66 kg) - Kyrgyzstan Asian Championships
2008 - Bronze (66 kg) - Beijing Olympics
2008 - Bronze (66 kg) - Jeju Island Asian Championships
2009 - Gold (66 kg) - Jalander Commonwealth Championship
2010 - Gold (66 kg) - New Delhi Asian Championships
2010 - Gold (66 kg) - Moscow World Championships
2010 - Gold (66 kg) - Delhi Commonwealth Games

Sushil created history when he became the first Indian to win a gold medal at FILA 2010 World Wrestling Championships held in Moscow in September 2010. Sushil beat Alan Gogaev of Russia 3-1 in the finals for the gold in the 66 kg freestyle wrestling category.

Sushil won gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games by beating Heinrich Barnes of South Africa 7-0 in the finals in the 66 kg freestyle wrestling category.

Sushil had injured his right shoulder just 10 days before the qualifying tournament in Astana but credit goes to his tremendous will-power and training that he qualified for the London Olympics.