Indian wrestlers continued to disappoint in London Olympics as Yogeshwar Dutt today lost his pre-quarterfinal bout of the men’s 60kg freestyle category at the ExCel Arena here.
Yogeshwar, a gold medal winner in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, gave a tough fight to four-time and reigning world champion Besik Kudukhov of Russia but eventually lost the bout 0-3 on classification points.
Yogeshwar still has a chance to stake a claim at the bronze medal, provided Kudukhov, the Beijing Games bronze medallist in the 55kg class, reaches the final which will give the Indian an opportunity to fight in the repechage round.
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Amit Kumar (55kg) and Narsingh Pancham Yadav’s (74kg) campaign at the London Games had already crashed out in their respective weight categories last night.
Against a world class opponent like Kudukhov, Yogeshwar showed great determination and he lost the opening period via clinch position after the round ended scoreless.
In the second period, Yogeshwar had few good chances to score points but he failed to capitalise on them as Kudukhov won it 2-0 on technical points to seal the bout in his favour and a place in the quarter-finals.
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The day, however, started on a bright note for Yogeshwar as he defeated Anatolie Ilarionovitch Guidea of Bulgaria 3-1 on classification points to sail into the pre-quarterfinals.
In his opening bout, Yogeshwar and his Bulgarian opponent started cautiously and seemed in no mood to give an inch to the other as the opening two-minute period ended scoreless and was decided by the clinch position in which the Bulgarian turned out lucky as he won the toss.
But Yogeshwar came out all guns blazing in the next period and pocketed it 2-0 on technical points to draw parity in the tie.
In the third and deciding period, the Indian continued his dominance over Guidea and won it 5-2 on technical points to seal the bout in his favour.