Scotland: Olympic Bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt added another gold medal to his tally when he beat Canadian Jevon Balfour 10-0 in the 65 Kg freestyle final match at Commonwealth Games at the SECC hall today. This was Yogeshwar’s second gold medal in a row at the Commonwealth games after beating the Canadian in one minute 53 seconds.
The Haryana wrestler looked unbeatable today as he finished all his matches in less than two minutes. “All the bouts were very good today but Sri Lanka wrestler was relatively easy. Though Canadian opponent was a little tough but I managed to do a very good technical fall in that match. I really enjoyed the way that I finished all my games within two minutes and excelled technically,” said Yogeshwar. With this win he has proved to his critics that even with a move to higher weight category, he can excel.
Winning a gold medal on his debut in 65 kg category in the Senior international wrestling competition in Italy last month helped Yogeshwar achieve the feat today at Glasgow. “I had to work on my strength to play in the new weight category which took a lot of time but eventually it gave me good results today as well as in the previous international championship. Winning a gold medal in Italy was also a confidence booster for me as it was a world event. I am happy that our game has given 7 medals to our country which is a very big thing for all the wrestling community.”
The 31-year-old who will spearhead the Indian challenge in the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon, Korea said, “Asian Games won’t be an easy task so we have to really work hard in the short time that we have. Though, I have won a bronze once in Doha, I would love to win a gold at Incheon. That’s one medal that I haven’t won yet.”
Earlier in the day, he defeated Sri Lankan Chamara Parara 10-0 in the semi-finals, Gareth Jones 10-0 in the quarter finals and another Scottish Alex Gladkov 11-0 in the round of 16.
The other wrestler to win the gold medal today was Babita Kumari in the women’s freestyle 55kg category.