But then as a person, colleague or a student, there haven’t been many conspicuous changes. It’s only in the reaction and the interest that the sport, otherwise mostly neglected, has begun to arouse that the milestone becomes visible. “Now so many people know me, so many watch kushti. Nothing is bigger than that. At every event I attend, people keep asking me for tips,” says Sushil.

India bagging all the golds on offer at the Pune Commonwealth Youth Games this year, the wrestler thinks, is a better picture of the growing interest. “We won seven gold medals in wrestling there. We also did very well at the Military World Championships. What can be better proof?” asks Sushil.

The Senior National Wrestling Championship at the Nandini Nagar PG College here is just the second event Sushil has participated in after August 22. It was a quiet tournament, that ended with a final round bye from Pradeep Kumar. But what keeps Sushil on his toes these days is the dream of that elusive gold at the London Games. “2010 will be a crucial year for us with the Commonwealth Games at home. I think it will be a huge opportunity for us. But it is the 2012 Olympic gold I’m looking at. We will fetch many more medals from London,” adds Sushil.

Coach Satpal stresses Kumar hasn’t changed much, especially with the kind of regime wrestling demands. “Wrestling is all about discipline. He could have directly attended the national camps. But he’s playing here to keep himself prepared and inspire those present. Not often do you have an Olympic medallist performing in front of your eyes. But the gaze and the publicity hasn’t changed him. In wrestling if you change your lifestyle, your attitude, you are finished,” says Satpal, a former Asian Games and Commonwealth gold medallist.

“But he speaks more freely with journalists these days. This too came with practice. These days he manages two-three interviews per day,” he adds.

While his coach thinks his ward hasn’t really gotten into brand endorsements because of his introvert nature, Sushil himself thinks it’s the fear of getting distracted that is keeping him away. “In wrestling you can lose focus very easily,” Sushil says. “But I have done an advertisement for a tractor.”