London: India’s Yogeshwar Dutt clinched a bronze in 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 here today.
Yogeshwar fought back strongly in the repechage rounds to notch up three successive victories in the space of less than an hour to provide India its fifth medal at the London Games and the first on the mat.
India’s Yogeshwar Dutt reacts after defaeting North Korea’s Jong Myong Ri for the bronze medal on the Men’s 60Kg Freestyle wrestling at the ExCel venue during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Reuters
The 29-year-old from Sonepat in Haryana, who had missed a medal four years ago at the Beijing Olympics, showed excellent technique and fighting spirit to bring off three memorable wins on the trot for the bronze.
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 victory over Iran’s Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari to be one win away from a medal.
The two victories that came within the space of 20 minutes got Yogeshwar’s adrenaline going and he brought off another stupendous come from behind victory over his North Korean rival to fetch the bronze.
IANS
