We will do very well in London: Sushil Kumar

Sushil Kumar has gone from strength to strength after winning the historic bronze at the Beijing Olympics. The 29-year-old grappler is now a World champion as well as a Commonwealth Games champion. Now the only thing left to complete his CV is an Olympic gold.
Sushil qualified for London in the final qualifying tournament in Taiwan as he clinched gold in the World Qualifying tournament.But that doesn't concern the grappler, who has his sight firmly set on the Games. Sushil spoke to TOI on Sunday soon after his return from Colorado Springs, US, where the grapplers were training for the 2012 Games. Excerpts:
How are you feeling heading into London? Is the pressure more compared to Beijing Olympics?
Pressure is always there when you are representing the country at the Olympics. Everyone I meet expects me to bring back gold from London. But that doesn't have any negative impact, it only motivates you to push harder.
Your memories of the day you clinched bronze in Beijing.
I made a few mistakes in my first bout which I lost, probably I was feeling some pressure in that match. After that, I knew what I needed to do and although most of the bouts went down to the last round, I always believed in myself. The field in the repechage round was definitely not easy -- I faced all top-10 wrestlers from around the world but nothing in Olympics comes easily.
You will be India's flag-bearer in the opening ceremony in London. What do you feel about this opportunity?
Wrestling has brought me a lot of honour over the years. The opportunity to be India's flag-bearer is certainly special and a dream come true for me. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to lead out the Indian contingent in London.
What do you think about your chances in London?
The field in London will be very tough with the likes of Mehdi Taghavi Kermani from Iran competing in my weight category. But I am feeling in great shape at the moment and there are no injury concerns either. I think we have one of our strongest wrestling contingents this time around and we can do very well in all weight categories we're competing in.
How was your training stint in Colorado Springs and what are your plans in the lead up to London?
It is good to train in high-altitude areas like Colorado Springs. The facilities were great and the coaching staff was some of the best. We'll be heading to Belarus in a couple of day's time. The time difference between Belarus and London is not much so that'll help us get acclimatised. Also, it is important to get good sparring partners and we'll get that in some of the Eastern European wrestlers in Belarus.