Yogeshwar Dutt

Yogeshwar Dutt (born 2 November 1982) is an Indian freestyle wrestler. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the 60 kg category.[3] He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013.[4] He won a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Yogeshwar Dutt
XIX Commonwealth Games-2010 Delhi Yogeshwar Dutt of India won the gold medal in (Men's) Wrestling 60Kg Freestyle, at Indira Gandhi Stadium, in New Delhi on 9 October 2010.
Personal information
Nickname(s)Yogi, Pahalwan Ji[1]
NationalityIndian
Born (1982-11-02) 2 November 1982
Bhainswal Kalan, Sonipat district, Haryana[2]
Height5 ft 6 in (168 cm)
Sport
CountryIndia
SportWrestling
Medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing  India
Olympic Games
2012 London 60 kg freestyle
Asian Games
2006 Doha 60 kg freestyle
2014 Incheon 65 kg freestyle
Commonwealth Games
2010 Delhi 60 kg freestyle
2014 Glasgow 65 kg freestyle
Asian Championships
2008 Jeju City 60 kg freestyle
2012 Gumi 60 kg freestyle
Commonwealth Championship
2003 London 55 kg freestyle
2005 Cape Town 60 kg freestyle
2005 Cape Town 60 kg Greco-Roman
2007 London 60 kg freestyle
2007 London 60 kg Greco-Roman

Early life

Dutt was born in Bhainswal Kalan village in Sonipat district of Haryana.[2][5] He first started wrestling at the age of eight in his native village and idolised Balraj Pehlwan. He was trained by coach Ramphal.[5]

Career

2006 Asian Games

Yogeshwar had lost his father on 3 August 2006 just nine days before he boarded the flight to Doha for the Asian Games.[6] He also sustained a knee injury, but despite all the emotional and physical trauma he managed to win the bronze in the 60 kilogram category at the 15th Asian Games at Doha.[7]

2010 Commonwealth Games

At the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, Yogeshwar overcame a career-threatening knee injury to win the 60 kg title. Yogeshwar, who went past Australian Farzad Tarash (16–0, 17–0), South African Marius Loots (7–1) and England's Sasha Madyarchyk (4–4, 8–0) on his way to the final, came up with an exceptionally skilful performance to win the gold for India.[8]

2012 Summer Olympics

On 12 August 2012, Yogeshwar Dutt provided a late boost to India's medals tally in the 2012 London Olympics by claiming a memorable bronze in the Men's freestyle 60 kg, thus becoming the third Indian wrestler to win an Olympic medal after K D Jadhav in 1952 and Sushil Kumar in 2008 and 2012.

He had defeated North Korean Ri Jong-Myong in the bronze medal bout thus winning the fifth medal for Indian contingent at the London Olympics 2012.

Earlier, Yogeshwar qualified for the 2012 Olympics by winning a silver medal at an Asian qualification tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan where he lost to Iranian Masoud Esmaeilpour (2–3, 0–1) in the final.

At the Olympics he lost to the Russian B Kudukhov 1–0, 2–0 and was knocked out from the pre-quarterfinal round. He got a chance to contest in the repechage rounds as Kudukhov reached the finals of the event.

In his first repechage round he went on to beat Franklin Gómez of Puerto Rico with a score of 1–0, 1–0. He got lucky against his opponent, winning the toss on both the occasions to earn a clinch position. Yogeshwar then scored 7–5 to beat Masoud Esmaeilpour with an aggregate of counted points 3–1 in Repechage Round 2. Esmaeilpour had beaten Yogeshwar at the Asian qualifications earlier that year.

He finally beat his North Korean opponent to clinch the bronze medal (0–1, 1–0, 6–0). He was exceptional in the last round, and clinched it in just 1:02 minutes.[9]

2014 Commonwealth Games

Yogeshwar Dutt won the gold medal in the men's 65 kg freestyle category by beating Canada's Jevon Balfour 10–0 in the finals.

Yogeshwar had earlier beaten Alex Gladkov of Scotland 4–0 in the pre-quarters and then easily defeated another Scottish wrestler Gareth Jones in the quarterfinals by employing his trademark Fitele (leg twisting) technique that he had used while winning the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. In the semi-finals, Yogeshwar successfully used his favourite technique again to get the better of Sri Lanka's Chamara Perera in just two minutes and three seconds. Yogeshwar won with a 0–5 verdict after taking a 10–0 lead on technical points.[10]

2014 Asian Games

Yogeshwar Dutt won the Gold in the 65 kg freestyle wrestling category by defeating Zalimkhan Yusupov of Tajikistan in the final at the Asian games 2014. Dutt won a closely fought final 1–0. Earlier, he defeated the opponent from China in the semi-final by Fall in another closely fought bout in which Dutt was trailing almost till the end. He defeated Jinhyok Kang of North Korea in the quarterfinal.[11]

2015

In 2015, he was clubbed into the ‘Icon’ category by Haryana Hammers[12]– one of the six teams playing under the first edition of Pro Wrestling League (PWL), which was held from 10 to 27 December in six Indian cities.[13]

Political career

Dutt joined Bharatiya Janata Party in September 2019 and may contest the upcoming Haryana Assembly Polls in 2019.[14]

Awards, rewards and recognition
For the bronze medal at 2012 London Olympic
  • ₹10 million (US$140,000) cash reward from the Haryana Government.[16]
  • 4x4 vehicle from a PSU bank[17]

See also

References
  1. "'रियो ओलिंपिक के आखिरी दिन 'पहलवान जी' से है गोल्ड की उम्मीद'". NDTVIndia. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  2. Hussain, Sabi (17 July 2014). "Getting a grip". The Tribune (Chandigarh). Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  3. "Flipping arena with a toss, Dutt gives India its fifth medal". 12 August 2012.
  4. "Padma Awards". pib. 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  5. Kumar, Sooraj (2 August 2014). "Yogeshwar Dutt: 11 Reasons to be proud of the unsung hero of Indian wrestling!". India.com. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  6. Father's dream drives Yogeshwar Archived 12 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Hindustan Times (10 August 2012).
  7. "Medal winners at the 15th Asian Games on Dec. 13", People's Daily, (14 December 2006). Retrieved on 16 August 2008.
  8. Yogeshwar Dutt Phogat Olympics 2012 Player Profile, News, Medals – Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com (1 January 1970).
  9. Yogeshwar Dutt repe-charges to bronze, gets India 5th medal Archived 12 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Hindustan Times (11 August 2012).
  10. "CWG 2014: Yogeshwar Dutt, Babita Kumari win gold as India's medal tally reaches 44 – The Economic Times". The Economic Times. 31 July 2014.
  11. NDTVSports. "Asian Games: After Historic Gold, Yogeshwar Dutt Dedicates Medal to Father".
  12. Yogeshwar Dutt Bio Haryana Hammers . Haryanahammers.com/.
  13. Yogeshwar, Sushil highest bids at Pro Wrestling League auction The Hindu.com
  14. "Election test for Yogeshwar, Babita and Sandeep as sporting icons join politics". India Today. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
  15. "Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Awards Announced". Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports. 19 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  16. "Haryana chief minister announces cash award of Rs 1 crore to Yogeshwar Dutt". 12 August 2012.
  17. After bronze, Dutt looks to go all the way at Worlds. Indian Express (16 August 2012).
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