Thaindian News

London, Aug 11 (IANS) Yogeshwar Dutt’s Olympic medal hopes were rekindled as he qualified for the repechage round of the men’s 60kg wrestling event after Russian Besik Kudukhov, who had defeated the Indian in the pre-quarterfinal, made it to the title round of the 2012 London Games here Saturday.

But it will still be a long road ahead for the Indian before he gets into the bronze medal match.

The 30-year-old Indian will be facing Franklin Gomez Matos of Puerto Rico in the first repechage round. If Yogeshwar wins, he will face Iranian Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari in the second repechage round for a place in the bronze medal match against North Korean Jong Myong Ri.

Yogeshwar must thank World Champion Kudukhov for keeping alive his bronze medal hope.

The Russian, bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Games, won his quarter-final match 3-1 against Esmaeilpoorjouybari and semi-final 3-0 against Myong Ri to qualify for the final. Kudukhov will face Azerbaijan’s Toghrul Asgarov in the title clash.

Yogeshwar had lost his pre-quarterfinal bout to Kudukhov. The Indian survived just two periods before losing 3-0 to the reigning World Champion, who was also a bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Yogeshwar lost the first period 1-0 and the second 2-0. The Indian’s medal hopes now depend on the Russian.

Yogeshwar qualified for the pre-quarterfinal, beating Bulgarian Anatolie Ilarionovitch Guidea in the first round.

The Indian made a brilliant comeback after losing the first period to win the bout 3-1.

Guidea won the first period 1-0 but Yogeshwar did well in the second period, bagging it 2-0. Yogeshwar completely dominated the third and the final period to win it 5-2.