Sandeep Kumar (born 1 April 1983 in Lakhan Kalan,

Punjab, India Punjab (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the States and union territories of India, Indian states of Himachal ...

) is an amateur Indian-born Australian freestyle wrestler, who played for the men's light heavyweight category. Kumar moved to

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

permanently in 2004 to pursue more opportunities in the sport of wrestling, and was officially granted citizenship three years later. He also worked as a taxi driver in order to raise funds for his trip to the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Kumar is the brother of Anil Kumar, who competed in the same discipline at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona, Spain Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. Kumar represented Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

, where he competed for the men's 84 kg class. He received a bye for the preliminary round of sixteen, before losing out to Tajikistan's

Yusup Abdusalomov Yusup Rashidovich Abdusalamov (russian: Юсуп Рашидович Абдусаламов; born November 8, 1977; Dagestan) is a USSR-born Russian and Tajik wrestler, who won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Career Having won the f ...

, who was able to score eight points in two straight periods, leaving Kumar without a single point. Because his opponent advanced further into the final match, Kumar had another shot at the bronze medal by entering the

repechage Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...

bouts. Unfortunately, he was defeated in the first round by Ukraine's

Taras Danko Taras Hryhoriyovych Danko (Тарас Григорійович Данько; born July 3, 1980, in Kiev, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-t ...

, with a two-set technical score (0–3, 0–6), and a classification point score of 0–3.

References

External links

Profile – Australian Olympic TeamProfile – International Wrestling Database
Australian male sport wrestlers 1983 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Australia Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics from Punjab, India Indian emigrants to Australia Australian taxi drivers Indian taxi drivers {{Australia-wrestling-bio-stub