Yogeshwar Dutt's inspirational journey from the mud-covered rings of his village in Haryana to representing India at Olympics

Wrestling is now a well-known game in India. While it is connected to the roots of the country, it has also established a prominent place at international level. Wrestlers like Yogeshwar Dutt and Sushil Kumar deserve all the credit for making India popular on international stage.

Be a modern city like Delhi and Bengaluru or remote village of Haryana everyone knows about wrestling. Not just Indians are fascinated about this game, but they also watch every single wrestling match with utmost focus. There are many who had represented India abroad in this game, but they are some payers who have got their identities registered in the history of India. One of them is the freestyle wrestler of India Yogeshwar Dutt.

Yogeshwar's inspiring journey began when he was just 8-year-old

The Haryana lad started wrestling from the early age of 8. When Yogeshwar was learning the tricks of wrestling in the mud-covered ring of Haryana, nobody could have imagined that one day he will represent India in Olympics. In his early days, there were many games in school that Yogeshwar had lost, but it was his dedication and focus that made him Olympic medalist.

In the year 1994, Yogeshwar had participated in the International School Cadet Sports Competition held in Poland, the wrestler had won the gold medal in the tournament. After his win, Yogeshwar's parents were sure that one day their son is going to represent India at the world level. In the year 1996, Yogeshwar completed his study and came to Delhi's Chhatrasal Stadium to make a career in wrestling.

Big success achieved in 2003

Yogeshwar's biggest career success came in the year 2003 when he managed to win the gold medal in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship held in London. After this win, Yogeshwar never turned back. In 2004, Yogeshwar was elected for 2004 Athens Olympics. However, the wrestler failed to make it big in Athens.

Even after the death of his father, he won medal in Asian games

The year 2006 came with a bad news for the Indian wrestler. Yogeshwar's father passed away on 3 August 2006. Just 9 days before the death of his father, Yogeshwar had gone to participate in the Asian Games held in Doha. In Doha, Yogeshwar heard the news of his father's death, yet the Indian freestyle wrestler managed to win the bronze medal for the country.

Yogeshwar became a National hero

The Indian freestyle wrestler became a national hero within a night after he won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Even though Yogeshwar was not able to repeat his London Olympics performance at the Rio Olympics 2016, yet the wrestler's journey from the mud-covered rings of his village in Haryana to representing his country (India) at the highest level is not less than an inspirational film.

In the Rio Olympics, the wrestler had bowed down in the opening round after losing to Mongolian Ganzorigiina Mandakhnaran. Talking about the current status of the wrestler, it is being speculated that Yogeshwar will participate in the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games which will be held in the year 2018.

The Haryana boy made his debut in the Olympics in the Athens. In Athens, Yogeshwar was at the 18th spot in the freestyle category. However, in Bejing Olympics, the freestyle wrestler made it to the quarter-final, but after that, he exited from the tournament. But the year 2012 was Yogeshwar's golden time, it was in the London Olympics 2012 when Yogeshwar with his performance showed the world that he can achieve greatness. After thrashing Ri Jong-Myong of North Korea, Mr Dutt bagged a bronze medal in the 60-kg freestyle event.

Yogeshwar made history with his victory

With his win in the London Olympics, Yogeshwar became the third Indian wrestler to bag an Olympic medal. Other than Dutt, KD Jadhav in 1952 and Sushil Kumar in 2008 and 2012 had also won the Olympic medal for India.

Yogeshwar's performance at the London Olympic was also special because just two years ago during Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi Yogeshwar had gone through a knee injury (career-threatening) in the final match. Even after suffering an injury he won the match and gold medal in the 60 kg category. Due to his injury, he had stayed out of the game for a long time but when he made his comeback he did that in style.

Being a sports person, the feeling of nationalism comes from within which is why Olympic Bronze medallist and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt gave his opinion in favour of standing for the National Anthem. The wrestler, recently, asserted that every Indian, without any doubt, should stand for the National Anthem. The widely respected player felt sad about the fact that debates about the National Anthem still happens in our country. He feels that every Indian should stand to respect it.

Yogeshwar's plan to win gold medal in Tokyo

If one will talk about the personal life of Yogeshwar, the wrestler has set an example for every one by taking just Rs one in dowry. Yogeshwar is now preparing for the next Olympics. Yogi's next target is to win the gold medal for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Yogeshwar Dutt has been a real inspiration for everyone and we hope that many wrestlers like him take an initiative to make our country proud by participating more and more in various sports and activities. Not only this, we also hope that they get the best opportunities to represent India at the International level in future.