Sonepat, Aug 15: Having realised his dream of winning a medal at the Olympics, star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt says, he would now be able to “sleep soundly” after having “sleepless nights” since Beijing Olympics where he lost in quarterfinals in the last 10 seconds.
The 29-year-old from village Bhainswal Kalan in district Sonepat in Haryana said the absence of an Olympic medal from his cabinet gave him sleepless nights over the years and he could now atleast afford to relax a bit.
“For the last four years, I used to wake-up with the dream of winning a medal at the Olympics and I am thankful that God has been kind to me this time around. Atleast, I can now enjoy a sound sleep,” Yogeshwar told PTI at his residence with a dazzle in his eyes.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist was ousted from the Beijing Olympics in the dying moments of his quarterfinal bout against Kenichi Yumoto of Japan and his fears almost came true this time around as he lost to Russia's Besik Kudukhov in the pre-quarterfinal before coming back strongly in the repechage round to clinch a bronze.
“The loss to Kudukhov was very disturbing. I had put a lot of hardwork to reach the Olympics this time and did not want to return empty handed. But I knew the Russian can make it to the finals and I started gearing up for the repechage without wasting much of a time thinking about the loss,” said Yogeshwar as his phone continuously buzzed with the congratulatory calls.
