Sonepat,

This is not the Parveen Rana that the world saw in the bloody, brutish trial that he had lost to Sushil Kumar in December last year. This Rana has just suffered a personal tragedy, one which he knew was coming for the last six months: 13 days ago, Rana’s mother Rajbala lost her fight against cancer, which was detected over a year ago. Tuesday was his first day back at the Sports Authority of India’s Sonepat training base, which had a sizeable crowd to see the trial for the Asian Games. “I came back today only,” Rana said. “Yesterday was her teharvin (13th day of mourning period).” “Doctors had told us that she has little time on her hands. I was very close to my mother and whenever she would want to see me, I had to rush home as we knew she did not have much time,” said the 74kg grappler, who is from Qutubgarh village in Delhi. “I had to sometimes finish my training here in the morning and then rush home.” Besides the mental trauma, the treatment drained the family’s savings too. “We must have spent Rs 40-45 lakh in the treatment. But money isn’t important. It was important for us to do everything that we could have done to save her. We couldn’t save her,” he said. Rana’s first test, both physical and mental after his personal loss, may take place in the first week of July, when the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) plans to hold the 74kg trial for the World Championships. But there is a rider: Whoever wins the trial may have to square up against double Olympics medallist Sushil Kumar.

Sushil motivation

For Rana, there is no greater motivation now but to beat Sushil in the ring. Last December, the two squared up against each other in the trial for this year’s Commonwealth Games. While Sushil beat Rana 7-2 in a bloody contest, what happened after the fight shamed Indian wrestling. Sushil’s supporters allegedly thrashed both Rana and his brother Naveen for “daring to fight” against his one-time Chhatrasal Stadium mentor. The Rana brothers had filed an FIR against Sushil, and the investigation in the “assault case” is still continuing. “Nothing will happen in the case,” Rana today said. “His supporters were wrong, and we also in the heat of the moment registered the FIR, and it was justified. But I don’t think any action will happen now.