TOI Exclusive | ‘Tell Vinesh, I want to wrestle her again’: Yui Susaki reflects on Paris defeat to Phogat

NEW DELHI: Sometimes, things you fear could be lost in translation arrive with refreshingly simple meanings — an articulation so startling it makes you wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Having just arrived in India, fighting off fatigue from lack of sleep and coping with the strange listlessness that comes with being ushered into unfamiliar settings, Yui Susaki is more worried that — with no interpreter at hand — her “not-so-good” English might come up short. Additionally, she has asked for a few questions to be sent to her in advance so she can put thought into her responses, evidenced in the ‘notes-toself ’ she constantly refers to on her phone when replying.

Yui Susaki needn’t have worried. She would have guessed what the questions would revolve around. No amount of seamless translation apps, or all the new-fangled AI in the world, can outdo the basic emotional intelligence of a true champion. And so, when she delivers this with the most dazzling of smiles — “Tell Vinesh, I want to fight her again” — the message lands, clear and rare as a sunny Delhi winter day. She isn’t peering into her phone for this answer.

“I am a challenger now.”“I respect her. I heard she had a baby, no?” the Japanese remembers. “I don’t know if I will meet her here. Tell her many hellos. I wish her health and a happy family. I am happy for her. If I meet Vinesh, I want to wrestle her again,” she says.Susaki is a rare one. You wouldn’t know she is a four-time world champion and was the defending Olympic champion, who carried an 82-0 record into the Paris Olympics 50-kg competition, until she ran into Vinesh.

Here, she is a far cry from the shocked, sullen, tear-stained face she wore in Paris two years ago after that defeat. Susaki could be a just-arrived, maskfree Japanese tourist, not yet bothered by the Delhi air.But those who know, know. Lingering just within earshot of the interview scrum is young wrestler Sarika, waiting without interrupting. When Susaki breaks free, Sarika approaches her and softly tells her how much of an idol the Japanese has been, and just how happy she is to meet her. “I started wrestling because of you. You have no idea how much you mean to me,” Sarika tells the champion, and is met with a cry of, “Oh, Antim!”

Susaki has mistaken the junior 50-kg wrestler for India’s Antim Panghal, but that doesn’t deter the teenager. She is just happy to be in her presence — and taking comfort in the fact that there will be more shoulderrubbing and fewer wrong-name calls as the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) gets underway here from Thursday.Bought by Haryana Thunders for Rs 60 lakh, Susaki is the highest buy of the season. “I never expected to have the highest bid,” she says.

If she has any plans in her free time here, Susaki shakes her head. “No. Only wrestle, wrestle, wrestle,” she laughs.Time is short. She braces herself, almost as if expecting the question. We all know what happened that day against Vinesh. Both wrestlers were openly weeping at the end. We want to hear from you. “I didn’t expect that defeat,” she begins, somberly. “That day, I couldn’t believe it happened. It was really disappointing for me.

It was a shocking experience but that experience was important to me.”She won gold in Tokyo without dropping a point. She had never lost to a non-Japanese rival, was unbeaten 82-0 and was 2-0 up at the death that day. Did that defeat change anything? “Maybe that experience made me realise what I was lacking,” she says. “That defeat prompted me to confront myself even more and allowed me to grow in all aspects. It was a frustrating experience but I see it as a necessary experience for me.“Because I want to win gold at the Los Angeles Olympics and Brisbane, I will use the defeat to Vinesh to my advantage,” she nods sagely.Like in heavyweight boxing, a crushing defeat often leads the loser through a bout of extreme darkness and self doubt. How does a champion athlete reconcile with such a defeat? “This was the most disheartening and depressing event of my life, but I want to bounce back. I need to show everyone that I can become a Japanese champion, a world champion, and an Olympic champion — and inspire courage and hope in others.”Yui Susaki is no longer looking into her phone. Her English is no longer faltering. The champion is speaking from her heart, and we are hanging on to every word.KNOW YUI SUSAKI