Yogeshwar Dutt Profile: Men’s 65 kg freestyle Wrestling

Yogeshwar Dutt will play in his fourth Olympics. (Source: Reuters)

Yogeshwar Dutt surprised everyone when he added a bronze medal to India’s medal tally on the last day of 2012 London Olympics. He won the medal in the 60kg category. After Sushil Kumar, he became India’s second medallist in wrestling in London. He has been the pioneer of wrestling alongwith Sushil since then and has won all major tournaments apart from a medal at World Championships. But his Olympics medal has made him India’s hope for a medal in Rio Olympics.

Hailing from Sonepat district of Haryana, Dutt began wrestling at a very young age in village after he was inspired by a wrestler in his village. After the initial practice at his home, he joined the Chhatarsal stadium in New Delhi and began practicing under coach Satpal Singh. He participated in many international tournaments and also won medals. But his biggest achievement at a young age came when he qualified for the Athens Olympics. He did not perform well in his first Olympics but the experience helped him. In the Beijing Olympics, Dutt was hoping to get a medal but lost in the final 10 seconds of his quarter-final bout. It was a big shock for him. His career was then hit by a series of injuries but he was still able to win Asian Championships and medals at Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 2010. Then London happened where he played four bouts in 40 minutes to win the bronze medal. He will be playing his fourth Olympics in Rio. After the London Games, Dutt has suffered five injuries and has had surgeries on both knees that kept him out of action for major part of last three years. He has announced that this will be his last Olympics.

Age: 33

Event: Wrestling (65kg men’s freestyle)

Event Date: August 21

Qualifying event: Qualified for Rio Olympics from Asian Olympic Qualifiers held in Astana in February 2016

Record: India’s third Olympic medallist in wrestling

Career highlights: Gold medal in Asian Games 2014, Gold medal in Commonwealth Games 2014