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  Rio 2016: Yogeshwar Dutt battles to keep focus on the mat

Rio 2016: Yogeshwar Dutt battles to keep focus on the mat

PTI
Published : Aug 21, 2016, 12:30 am IST
Updated : Aug 21, 2016, 12:30 am IST

Expected to clinch one last medal for India at the Rio Games, London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt is trying hard not to let the Narsingh Yadav episode affect him ahead of the men’s 65kg fr

Expected to clinch one last medal for India at the Rio Games, London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt is trying hard not to let the Narsingh Yadav episode affect him ahead of the men’s 65kg freestyle event here on Sunday.

A day after an unassuming Sakshi Malik became the heartthrob of the nation by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal when she opened India’s tally with a bronze, the doping cloud began to haunt the grapplers again as Narsingh was slapped with a four-year ban for testing positive for banned substance.

Yogeshwar has been very vocal in his support for Narsingh throughout. In fact, Yogeshwar was staying in the same building at the Games Village as Narsingh and has witnessed all that had taken place in the last couple of days.

“Ab kya karein sab bura ho raha hai apne saath (What do we do Nothing is going our way),” men’s freestyle coach Jagminder Singh said, referring to Narsingh’s ban.

“Everyone in the team is in a shock, and we are trying our best that it does not affect Yogeshwar. He is our last medal hope. We just pray that he gets a good draw,” he added.

Yogeshwar’s journey to securing an Olympic quota place hasn’t been very smooth. Having recovered from three surgeries in 2015, he managed to book a ticket to Rio this year.

Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro