President Pratibha Patil Wednesday congratulated grappler Sushil Kumar who bagged a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

In a congratulatory message, Patil said, "He has made the country proud with his feat."

Kumar provided an unexpected boost to India's Olympic campaign by clinching bronze medal after beating Kazakhstan's Leonid Spiridonov in the repechage match of the men's freestyle wrestling 66kg class in Beijing.

Sports Minister M S Gill also extended his congratulations and said, "I am delighted as the whole country is. We won the wrestling bronze long ago in 1952 Helsinki Games when K D Jadhav from Maharashtra did it. I congratulate Sushil on his great win."

"His medal will encourage all the wrestlers and we will support all of them," he added.