India get 5th medal, first in wrestling

Just before he left for the London Olympics, Yogeshwar Dutt had vowed to win a medal for the country - something he had failed to do in the last two Games. On Saturday, the Delhi Police officer lived up to his words and did the country proud by winning the bronze medal in the 60kg freestyle wrestling.

Fighting with great skill and stamina, the valiant Dutt fought five bouts one after the other before outwitting North Korea's Jong Myong Ri with a breathtaking move in his final fight to grab the biggest prize of his long career. After the win, he said, "If I had lost, no one would have remembered me. Jo jeeta wahi sikandar."

Yogeshwar Dutt has al ways been an under achiever in Indian wrestling. The 29-year-old from Bhainswal village in Sonipat, Haryana, is a courageous fighter and technically very sound, but somehow he always kept missing the big one. On Saturday at the Excel Arena here, it finally happened. He fought five bouts one after another, like a man possessed and finally got what he was looking for, more than two decades after he first entered a dusty dangal in his village to learn the art of kushti -- he won bronze in the 60 kg freestyle to secure India's fifth medal in the London Games.

Dutt won like a true champion, catching hold of his North Korean opponent Jong Myong Ri's legs in a scissor clinch and rolling him, again and again and again and again. Six points and the referee stopped the contest. The Korean was helpless, like a rag. Dutt jumped into the air and did two cartwheels as the stadium erupted at the emphatic nature of victory.

This was his third repechage bout in less than an hour. He was aching, hurting his right eye swollen after a scarring battle with his Russian opponent in the pre-quarterfinals in the afternoon. But fatigue was far from his mind.

He later came out of the ring, draped in a tricolour and said, "My efforts of 21 years have paid off. I kept waiting for it to happen. It has been a very long journey. I came here to win a medal. If I had missed it would have been heart-breaking. This is for my country, my family, coaches, fans, everyone who has prayed of me," he said getting emotional. Weren't you worried that the first period went to the Korean in clinch "I was worried but I knew would not let it go. I wanted it so desperately. I got that 'feetle (roll)' and that was it."

Dutt, like the other Indians before him here, got a tough draw. He started well in his qualification match, making a superb comeback after losing the first period to his Bulgarian rival Anatolie Ilarionovitch Guidea. The Bulgarian won the first period 1-0 but Yogeshwar fought back to take the second period at 2-0 before dominating the final period for a comfortable 5-2 victory.

In the pre-quarterfinals , Dutt was up against former world champion and Olympic medallist Besik Seradinovich Kudukhov, a man rated as one of the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the world.

In the first period, Dutt tried to attack but was kept at bay. With scores 0-0 after two minutes, the Russian got lucky with a clinch and made it count with a point. In the second period, a desperate Dutt went all out into attack. He tried a takedown but the Russian avoided it and won a point.

Dutt then again went for the Russian's legs, turned in a jiffy and tried 'the bridge' , holding the Russian from behind and trying to flip him over his head.

The Russian later went into the final and Dutt into repechage. In his first bout in the repechage, he took out 26 year-old Puerto Rican Franklin Matos Gomez, a silver medal list in the World championship in 2011, with ease, helped by two clinches in two rounds.

The second repechage bout against Iran's Masoud Is maelpurjonybari went into three rounds. He won the first round and seemed to be winning the third when a referral changed his three-point lead to a deficit. However, in the third round, he pinned down his opponent twice to sail through to the medal round.

There destiny waited for him and he embraced it with both hands, gratefully.