India’s last wrestler in action at the Rio Olympics, has fallen short at the very first hurdle.
A definite medal favourite, Yogeshwar Dutt slumped to a shocking defeat in the 65kg qualification bout against Mongolia’s Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran. The final scoreline read 3-0.
The Indian Olympic bronze medalist from the 2012 London Games however had a chance at the bronze medal through Repechage but his Mongolian victor could not go further than the quarterfinals.
India’s seven-member Indian wrestling team thus finished its campaign with just a solitary bronze won by Sakshi Malik in the women’s 58kg category. The squad was originally eight-strong but Narsingh Yadav was ousted after being slapped with a doping ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sports.
The 33-year-old grappler from Haryana, competing at his fourth and, in all probability, last Olympics, looked a pale shadow of his previous self as he succumbed to defeat.
From the very beginning, Yogeshwar failed to get around the Mongolian who moved at a very fast pace. At the end of the opening period, he had conceded one point due to ‘passivity’.
After the break, Mandakhnaran turned a defensive position into an attacking one to take down Yogeshwar and quickly add to his advantage with two more points.
Yogeshwar, who qualified only in March this year for the Rio Games after struggling with a knee injury, was expected to turn the tables in the second period but he just could not script a comeback.
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