Sushil Kumar has time and again waved the flag of Indian wrestling abroad — be it at the Asian Championships, World Championships or Olympics.

Yesterday however, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) threatened to lower that flag, when its Executive Board, in a meeting at Lausanne, decided to remove wrestling from the 2020 Olympics. And India’s two-time Olympic medal-winning star grappler Sushil said he felt like the move had put India on the mat. “Aisa lagta hai jaise pachhaad diya hai kisine (it feels as though we have been pinned down)” is how Sushil reacted when MiD DAY called for a reaction to the news of wrestling’s omission from the 2020 Games.