Yogeshwar Dutt was pensive, his fans tense and the Wrestling Federation officials in a tizzy on Sunday when the 31-year-old wrestler from Haryana walked into the middle for his Final bout.
The time the slender and dimunitive Dutt took in downing his burly Tajik opponent Zalimkhan Yusupov to lift the title in the 65 kg freestyle category, winning the bout with a reed thin margin of just one point, seemed to be the longest in his career. But, in the end, a panting and totally sagged out Yogeshwar kept his promise to himself and the nation.
He gave India its first Gold medal in Wrestling after a long gap of 28 years and joined honours with Kartar Singh who had won a gold in the Asian Games at Seoul way back in 1986.
With Yogeshwar’s gold, India rose to the number 9 position in the overall tally and Dutt said later in the day that he was proud about his country breaking into the top 10 nations at Incheon.
The latest achievement of this london Olympics Bronze medalist is significant as Dutt has been plagued by injuries (sometimes in the back, sometimes in the knee) but on Sunday showed his grit in overcoming all hurdles to stand tall on the highest pedestal of wrestling.