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Sonepat’s Yogeshwar wrests bronze, gets India its 5th medal At
6.52 pm local time on Saturday, Yogeshwar Dutt, a man possessed, put his North Korean opponent through a frightening twister he likes to call 'phee-taale' — he'd got Jong Myong Ri by his feet and, in a breathtaking move, twisted and twisted him on the mat. Jong's back touched the mat several times and at 1.02 minutes of the third period the bout was stopped. Dutt had clinched a bronze medal, India's fifth medal of London 2012 overall. To win his bronze, the Sonepat boy had to fight and win three repechage bouts in 58 minutes, against fresher and thus stronger opponents. He did that. Dutt had very tough opponents in his half of the draw. "In the first round, the Bulgarian (Anatolie Guidea) was strong, a medallist at the World Championships," he said. "The next opponent (Besik Kudukhov of Russia) was multiple World Championship winner. Then the Iranian I beat in repechage (Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari) is a very strong wrestler too. It wasn't easy." It wasn't. At the end of it, Dutt wore a large bruise over his eye like a proud honour valiantly earned. Dutt beat Franklin Gomez Matos of Puerto Rico, Iran's Esmaeilpoorjouybari and Jong Myong Ri of North Korea in three tough repechage rounds to get his bronze. Dutt had lost the first period of the bronze medal match and was thus fired up. "I had to attack very strongly after that," he said later. "I knew that that was the only way to win a medal from there." For the third day in a row, the fistful of Indian fans and media found themselves cheering on a wrestler who'd beaten their man — it was Besik Kudukhov today. Kudukhov is a little beast who makes men cry. He's a 5ft 6in powerhouse, winner of a bronze in the 55kg freestyle event in Beijing 2008. Now he's gained five kilos and is terrorising the 60kg men. He's been the freestyle world champion in this class three times. Today afternoon, Kudukhov beat Esmaeilpoorjouybari in the quarterfinals at 3.18 pm and took on Jong in the semifinals at 3.39 pm.
For Dutt to progress, Kudukhov must win. He did, with ease. As he went back for a rest and rub-down, in preparation for the final, he was actually grinning. His coach insisted that the 21-minute-break was adequate, and that his man wasn't tired. Dutt, 29, lives on in wrestling solely for an Olympics medal. He landed himself an unpleasant, demoralising draw here: In his half were a dangerous Bulgarian, the world champion Russian; and the tough Iranian and Korean wrestlers. In the first round, Dutt demolished Anatolie Guidea of Bulgaria.
The sad and inevitable end of the road is fast approaching for Guidea, 35. After a point-less first period, Guidea was lucky with the draw of lots - he got the point off tiebreaking clinch. That roused the Indian - now he had to attack, create possibilities for himself in the second round.
He took down Guidea at the 40s mark of the period to score; and again with a takedown, with a vice-like grip on the Bulgarian's leg. In the third period, Dutt got Guidea down at 30s, both scored but Dutt got 3 against the Bulgarian's 2. Guidea's desperate attacks only put him in a position of further vulnerability, and he lost the period and the bout.
One hour later, Dutt faced Kudukhov. It wasn't the unequal battle many feared. Dutt and Kudukhov fought at par. They were watchful, grabbing at arms and upper bodies in the first half, averting the risk of an attack. The Russian was very quick, very sharp - Dutt got hold of him once but failed to score. At the draw of lots for the tie-breaker, Dutt was unlucky again. “That was a critical point in the bout," said Indian coach Vinod Kumar.
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