Can he do it? Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt will attempt to win his second Olympic medal in Rio

Out of the 118 Indian athletes who set out for Rio de Janeiro over a fortnight ago, only four remain. The contingent that was expected to win 10-12 medals is currently in 64th place overall in the medals tally, with a silver and a bronze.

PV Sindhu may have saved the nation’s blushes to ensure that India won’t have its poorest showing at the Games since Sydney 2000, but then again, two medals is hardly a justifiable return for a nation with a population of 1.25 billion people.

There are 12 events across eight disciplines on the final day at Rio, but all Indian eyes will be on one man. Due to the underwhelming nature of the contingent’s medal return at these Games, there will be added pressure on the 33-year-old wrestler from the Sonepat district of Haryana, Yogeshwar Dutt.

He is one of only four former medallists from India to have gone to Rio. Four years ago, in London, Dutt and other wrestlers had arrived in Sushil Kumar’s shadow. The latter went on to win a silver medal, while Dutt bagged another bronze medal for Indian wrestling.

High expectations

In London, Dutt had lost his pre-quarterfinal match against Besik Kudukhov of Russia. Kudukhov made the final eventually, allowing Dutt to compete for the bronze through repechage. Kudukhov, the silver medallist, later tragically died in a car crash, aged 29.

The Dutt that we all know defeated three opponents within a matter of 45 minutes. One of the defining images from London is of Dutt, with a swollen eye and multiple bruises, proudly holding up that bronze medal.

Fast forward four years and Dutt’s body is no longer the same shape it was in when he was 29. Injuries have forced him to miss consecutive world championships and he has undergone five surgeries since 2014.

But make no mistake: Dutt is a warrior. Yogi, as he is also known, is quietly confident of his ability. After winning bronze, he had said, “Everybody is happy that I've won a medal. But for me it doesn't change anything because I always knew that I could win Olympic medal. It took more time than I thought.”

Yogi will be heading into his fourth Olympic Games with the weight of a nation’s expectations on him. Dutt has won all of the last six tournaments that he has taken part in. But injury hasn’t helped, as it has limited the number of chances he has had to face his primary competition in Rio.

Experienced field

To go all the way and win a medal, the grappler will have to contend with some very tough and experienced veterans of the sport. While the Indian went into London having won a glut of titles, he is at Rio without having taken part in the World Championships held in 2014 and 2015.

It is important to remember that there has been a re-shuffle in weight classes since 2012. The 60 kg weight class in which Dutt won bronze no longer exists, and a host of wrestlers, including Dutt, have shifted upwards to the new 65 kg class.

One competitor Dutt will be familiar with is the gold medallist in the 60 kg category from London, Toghrul Asgarov of Azerbaijan. Still only 23, Asgarov also won gold at the 2015 European Games in the 65 kg class and will be a tough opponent.

There are also those who have joined from the previously existing 66 kg class. The last man to win gold in the World and European Championships in the 66 kg category, Devid Safaryan of Armenia, will be a tough nut to crack.

Safaryan will start his campaign in the pre-quarter-final against Italian Frank Chamizo, who won the last World Championship in Las Vegas. He succeeded Suslan Ramonov of Russia, world champion in 2014 and bronze medallist in Vegas.

What’s important to note here is that all these men will start from the pre-quarters while Dutt, as a result of lower ranking points, will have to start one round earlier, against two-time World Championship medallist Ganzorig Mandakhnaran of Mongolia.

It will be tough for the Yogi, as each of these competitors appears to have had more time on the wrestling circuit in recent times than Dutt has had. But only one of them, Ramonov, is in the Indian’s half of the draw and could face Dutt in a potential quarter-final clash.

In possibly his final Olympics, Dutt must use his experience and strength of will as his biggest weapons. He will have to leverage them in the face of everything he and Indian wrestling have been through in last two months, including the disastrous Narsingh Yadav saga.

Those who thought Yogi would take his friend Sushil Kumar’s side were all left pleasantly surprised as he has maintained that the wrestler who won the quota is the only one deserving to go to the Games.

Dutt did not shy away on that occasion. Nor will he on the wrestling mat. Yogi is a fighter, and will always be. His journey at Rio starts at 5 PM IST on Sunday, along with those 1.25 billion Indians.