Yogeshwar Dutt: Top five achievements of the Wrestler

The athlete has made the country proud on several occasions throughout his career.

Yogeshwar Dutt is a freestyle wrestler. He is one of the few athletes to have won an individual medal at the Olympic Games. The Haryana-born wrestler has been conferred with various awards as well, for bringing glory to the nation. He has been credited with bringing limelight to the sport.

Throughout his long career, He has represented India at several multi-sports international meets. The Indian athlete has performed appreciably whether it is the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games or the Olympics.

It can be safely said that Yogeshwar Dutt has been one of the finest athletes India has ever produced. Here is a look at the top five achievements from his glorious career:

5. Medals at the Commonwealth & Asian Championships

Yogeshwar Dutt has been exceptional at both Commonwealth and Asian Championships, which feature the best wrestlers from commonwealth countries and Asian countries respectively. These meets are at the level of continental tournaments like World Championships for individual sports.

He has won two gold medals in Asian Championships, in 2008 and 2012, both in 60kg freestyle wrestling. The wrestler has three golds and two silver medals at the Commonwealth Championships as well. 

4. Gold medals in Commonwealth Games

Yogeshwar’s performances at the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2014 were absolutely commendable. He won gold medals in both the editions. During the 2010 Delhi Games, in front of the capacity home crowd, Dutt overcame a serious knee injury to clinch a gold medal in the 60kg freestyle event. 

In the next edition, during the 2014 Glasgow Games, he clinched a gold in the 65kg freestyle wrestling event for India. Dutt defeated Canada's Jevon Balfour 10–0 in the final in a dominant performance.

3. National Awards

The Government of India rightly recognized the Haryana-born wrestler for his immense contribution to sports. Yogeshwar Dutt received the Arjuna Award in 2009 for wrestling. After his exploits at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the 2012 London Olympics, the government conferred on him the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the highest sporting honour of India.

Moreover, he was also recognized for bringing attention to the sport of wrestling and inspiring the youth to take up sports as a career. Yogeshwar was conferred the Padma Shri award in 2013, which is the fourth-highest civilian award in the country.

2. Gold medal in 2014 Asian Games

Yogeshwar Dutt has two medals in the Asian Games. His first medal was a bronze. The medal holds special significance for him as his father had passed away just a few days before he left for the meet. Moreover, during the course of the 60kg freestyle event, he sustained a terrible knee injury. However, the wrestler went on to win the bronze in incredible fashion.

Later in 2014, during the Incheon Games, he went two steps better and secured his first Asian Games gold in the 65kg freestyle event. Dutt secured the gold by defeating Zalimkhan Yusupov of Tajikistan in the final.

1. Bronze medal in 2012 Olympic Games

Winning an Olympic bronze is by far Yogeshwar’s biggest achievement on the international stage. He became only the third Indian wrestler to win an Olympic medal after KD Jadhav (2008) and Sushil Kumar (2012). He overcame North Korean Ri Jong-myong in the bronze medal bout in the 60kg freestyle category.

Thanks to his efforts, India was able to add another medal to their tally of six overall. His bronze medal was the last of the four bronzes India managed on top of two silver medals. 

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