Indian Wrestler Yogeshwar Wins Olympic Bronze

Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt gave India lot to cheer about by winning the bronze medal on a day when the hockey team, eight-time Olympic champions, ended their worst-ever Games with a wooden spoon in 12th position in London on Aug. 12, 2012.

Yogeshwar clinched the bronze medal in the men's 60kg category at the ExCel Arena to give the country its fifth Olympic medal from the London Games.

A determined Yogeshwar, who had lost in the quarterfinals in Beijing, churned out one of his best performance against North Korean Jong Myong Ri winning the bronze medal play-off match 3-1 at the ExCel Arena, which was packed with Indian supporters.

Yogeshwar, who was in his third Olympics, also became the third Indian wrestler after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav and Sushil Kumar to win an Olympic medal. Jadhav and Kumar had won bronze medals in 1952 Helsinki and 2008 Beijing Games.

In the bronze medal match, Yogeshwar put up a spirited performance despite losing the first period 1–0. Struggling to barely open his right eye, he came back strongly in the second period winning it 1–0.

Realizing that bronze medal was almost in his grasp, there was no stopping Yogeshwar in the third and the final period that he won 6–0.