My London Olympics bronze upgraded to silver: Yogeshwar

Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt said on Tuesday that he has been informed that the bronze medal he won at the 2012 London Olympic Games was upgraded to silver.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had recently decided to retest samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 Games which returned with several positive results.

According to a report by flowrestling.org, men's 60 kg freestyle category runner-up in 2012 Games, late Russian Besik Kudukhov's sample also tested positive for a banned substance.

As a result, Yogeshwar's bronze has been upgraded to silver. And the Haryana grappler wrote about it on Twitter.

"This morning I got to know that my Olympic medal has been upgraded to Silver. I dedicate this medal to my countrymen," is the English rendering of what Yogeshawar wrote in Hindi.

Yogeshwar had defeated Ri Jong-myong of North Korea in the bronze medal play-off who should now move up from the fifth position.

The 33-year-old will now join fellow Haryana wrestler Sushil Kumar as the second Indian silver medallist from the 2012 Olympics.

The results however, are yet to be officially confirmed by the United World Wrestling (UWW), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

Kudukhov, who defeated Yogeshwar in the pre-quarterfinals at the 2012 Olympics, is considered to be one of the greatest icons of modern wrestling.

He was a four-time world champion across two weight divisions and had won gold in every World Championship he competed in from 2007 to 2011.

He burst onto the international stage in sensational style at the age of 20 when he reached the final of the 2006 World Championships in Guangzhou, China.

He also became European Champion in 2007. He also won a bronze medal in 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Kudukhov died on December 29, 2013 in a car crash on a federal highway in southern Russia between Krasnodar Krai and Vladikavkaz.

--IANS

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