Mumbai: The 33-year-old Yogeshwar wishes to bid adieu to wrestling with another Olympic medal without being affected by fellow wrestler Narsingh Yadav’s four-year ban.
London Olympics bronze medalist Dutt is India’s final hope for a medal in the Rio Olympics. But with Narsingh incident, Yogeshwar is trying not to be affected by it. Yadav was slapped with a four-year ban by Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) for flunking a dope test after NADA’s clean chit was challenged by WADA.
“Ab kya karein sab bura ho raha hai apne saath (What do we do? Nothing is going our way),” men’s freestyle coach Jagminder Singh was quoted as saying by PTI, referring to Narsingh’s ban. “Everyone in the team is in a shock, and we are trying our best that it does not affect Yogeshwar. He is our last medal hope. We just pray that he gets a good draw,” he added. Yogeshwar has also been openly supporting Narsingh throughout.
With Sakshi Malik’s underdog story to win India’s first medal in Rio Olympics, Yogeshwar will be looking for a similar performance to get one more medal for India on the final day of Olympics. Yogeshwar has had a rough journey in ensuring a position in Rio Olympics given he had recovering from three surgeries since 2015.
Expectations are sky high from the 33-year-old wrestler ahead of his 65 kg freestyle event. Dutt, who is playing in his fourth and probably his last Olympics, wishes to finish with a second straight medal. Although it is going to be a Herculean task as he will face the world champion Frank Chamizo of Italy and Russia’s Soslan Ramonov in his event on Sunday.