The leg twisting move in the dying moments at London is still afresh in every proud Indian’s memory and we all want him to repeat his stints in Rio but with an even better result. The champion wrestler, Yogeshwar Dutt was born on November 2, 1982 in Sonipat, Haryana. He will compete in the men’s 65kg freestyle category at Rio Olympics. Yogeshwar has always been away from controversies and limelight. He lets his performance in the ring do the talking. He is extremely hard working and a true ambassador of Indian wrestling.
He is nicknamed Yogi for his true nature. He has been an unsung hero of Indian Wrestling.
Yogeshwar set his foot on the wrestling arena at a very young age of 8 years. He idolises Balraj Pehelwan who hailed from his native village. He arrived to the limelight with a gold medal at 2003 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships and then went on to win four more medals in the same competition in 2005, 2007 in freestyle as well as Greco-Roman category. There was no looking back for fit Jatt since then as he conquered his opponents in various competitions at various levels.
He took full advantage of his home crowd during the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and won gold medal. He proved himself as the best again at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and grabbed gold. Dutt once again proved to be the best when he won gold at the 2012 Gumi Asian Wrestling Championships.
Yogeshwar showed the professionalism, commitment towards the nation and his mental toughness during the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
Despite losing his father before the beginning of the games and struggling with a severe knee injury, he gave priority to the national duty.
Keeping aside the physical and mental trauma, he went on and won bronze medal in the games. Dutt bettered all his previous records in the games as he clinched the gold medal in the Incheon Asian Games in 2014.
Dutt secured an Olympic quota place for India with a gold-medal finish in the men’s 65kg freestyle category in the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament held in Astana in March this year. He became the second wrestler from India to qualify for the Olympics after Narsingh Yadav. This will be Yogeshwar’s fourth and Olympics. Yogeshwar stood 18th in the 2004 Athens Olympics whereas he finished on 9th spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The peak moment of the grappler’s career came when he beat Jong Myong Ri of North Korea to win an historic bronze medal at the London Olympics.
He became only the second wrestler to win an Olympic medal for India.
Incessant injuries have been a cause of concern as he has forcefully dropped out of a few competitions in the past due to injuries. But this time, he having his fitness level at the pinnacle, Yogeshwar will give his last and best effort at Rio Olympics to go one step above the cut and win the elusive gold medal for his nation.