Grappler Yogeshwar Dutt clinches bronze

Yogeshawar Dutt clinched a bronze medal at the Olympic Games after beating North Korea's Jong Myong Ri 3-1 in the 60kg freestyle play-off for the medal at the ExCel arena in London on Saturday.

The Indian grappler, who narrowly missed the bronze at the Beijing Games, had to fight five bouts in a single day to get on the podium. His lone defeat was against reigning World champion Besik Kudukhov of Russia in the pre-quarters.

- Congratulate Yogeshwar Dutt

However, given a lease of life after the Russian reached the final, Yogeshwar came up with a superlative showing in the repechage rounds to notch three successive victories in less 60 sixty minutes and provide India its fifth medal at the Games and first on the mat.

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It is India's third wrestling medal from the Olympics, after Kashaba Jadhav's bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Games and a similar feat by Sushil Kumar four years ago in Beijing.

The 29-year-old from Sonepat in Haryana showed excellent technique and fighting spirit to pull off three memorable victories on the trot.

- Congratulate Yogeshwar Dutt

In the repechage rounds, in which he had to beat three opponents, Yogeshwar started off with a win over World Championship runner-up Franklin Gomez Matos of Puerto Rico and followed it with another brilliant one over Iran's Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari to get within one win from a medal.

The two victories that came within the space of 20 minutes got Yogeshwar's adrenaline going and he came up with another stupendous come-from-behind victory over his North Korean opponent to snatch the bronze.

- Congratulate Yogeshwar Dutt

In the all-important medal round, Yogeshwar started on the wrong foot, conceding a point to the strong North Korean, who seemed to have the upper hand initially.

However, the tide changed drastically for the Indian in the next period in which he took a point to draw level with Myong Ri and leave the stage set for a dramatic finish.

But, as things turned out, Yogeshwar was at the height of his prowess in the final period which saw him score a staggering six technical points in a jiffy to seal the issue.

Using all his experience and technique to the fullest, Yogeshwar managed to pull Myong Ri down on the mat, and then rolled him over a few times to lay claim to a well-deserved bronze, which he has been yearning for the past four years.

Yogeshwar earlier fought off the challenges from Matos and Esmaeilpoorjouybari, winning 3-0 and 3-1 respectively, to be in the contention for the bronze medal.

- Congratulate Yogeshwar Dutt

The Haryana grappler got lucky against Matos, winning the toss on both the occasions to earn a clinch position, which the experienced grappler, in his third Olympics, converted to the best of his capabilities.

- Congratulate Yogeshwar Dutt

With the score line reading 0-0 at the end of the first period, Yogeshwar got into the favourable position and was able to get one technical point, which was enough to gain the initial advantage.