Yogeshwar wrestles his way to bronze

PTI

• Haryana grappler shows immense determination to win India’s fifth medal in the London Olympics

 

London, 11 Aug 2012: A tiger called Yogeshwar Dutt was on the prowl in the Olympic Games wrestling arena on Saturday, grabbing India’s fifth medal with a performance laced with courage, ferocity and sheer determination.

 

Yogeshwar brushed aside an early fumble to come through the repechage rounds in a strong display and defeated North Korea’s Ri Jong Myong in the decisive encounter to hoist the bro-nze medal in the 60kg category at the ExCel arena. It was India’s third medal from wrestling in Olympic history -- after successes by K D Jadhav (1952) and Sushil Kumar (2008) -- and took their tally at London 2012 to one silver and four bronze medals.

 

“This is the result of 21 years of hard work,” said the 29-year-old from Sonepat, whose career was at the crossroads three years ago after he suffered a serious knee injury.

 

“All my fights were tough, they were world champions and medallists from world championships. Even in repechage, my rivals were really tough but I stayed in there and I have my reward.” A swollen right eye -- got from his first bout here -- and a weary body were testimony to the battles Yogeshwar waged on Saturday. He had lost his second-round bout in the afternoon to Russia’s four-time world champion Besik Kudukhov, but with Kudukhov going on to make the final, the Indian was given a second chance -- fighting in repechage rounds against wrestlers beaten by Kudukhov -- for the bronze medal.

 

In the repechage, he first got rid of Peurto Rico’s Franklin Matos Gomez, the silver-medallist at last year’s World Championships and then ousted Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari of Iran after taking in his stride a ruling that went against him in the first round.

 

Myong’s challenge awaited him in final repechage round and with a medal at stake, the wrestlers went at each other with gusto. Fighting his third bout in 45 minutes, Yogeshwar seemed weary but he refused to buckle. Myong took the first round by pushing the Indian out and earning a point but Yogeshwar was back with a bang in the second, taking the Korean down splendidly to earn a point and draw level.

 

He maintained the upper hand by pushing out the Korean again at the start of the second round and then caught him by the leg and turned him over and over again to earn a lead of 6-0, signalling the end of the contest. Doing a few cartwheels in a delightful act of celebration, Yogeshwar went on to dedicate his medal to his country.

 

 “This medal is to all of India. It’s been a tough journey but a fruitful journey,” he said. Earlier, Yogeshwar had started with a win over Bulgaria’s Anatolie Guidea in the first round. The Indian made a shaky beginning with Guidea taking the first round after a clinch. But he bounced back in fine fashion in the next round. He took the Bulgarian down two times to notch up valuable points to push the bout to the decider. Fighting smartly, he then caught Guidea by the leg to floor him for a convincing victory in the end.

 

The bout against Kudukhov was tougher. The four-time world champion -- once in 55kg and the rest in 60kg -- and the Indian played out a cautious first round leading to clinch. Kudukhov pushed Yogeshwar out to take the round.

 

In the second, the desperate Indian tried to attack but the wily Kudukhov evaded him nicely, wriggling out of tight situations and taking him down twice to surge to victory. It was then an anxious wait for Yogeshwar to see whether Kudukhov reaches the final and the Russian obliged, firing past Esmaeilpoorjouybar in the quarterfinals and then defeating Myong in the semifinals. That ensured a berth in the repechage round, opening the door to the bronze medal.