Yogeshwar Dutt is no longer the quiet, shy boy who emerged from the akhadas of inner Haryana to burst onto the scene when he won the gold medal in the 55 kg freestyle category at the 2003 Commonwealth Games at the age of 20.
The 33-year old is heading into his fourth, and possibly last, Olympics a battle-hardened veteran, and also as one of the only three Indian medallists from London 2012 to be heading into Rio.
There is no doubt that “Yogi”, as he is affectionately known, will give it his all to win a gold this time around, after having claimed a bronze on the last day of the London Olympics in 2012.
The man who rode the wrestling wave
Although the Olympic history books are full of anecdotes about gold medallists, Dutt certainly made a case for his inclusion by winning three bouts in the space of 45 minutes to clinch what was clearly a well-deserved bronze.
Dutt’s career graph mirrors the rise of the sport in India. What was once considered an event for burly men to compete on mats in gyms across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab has started gaining in spectator interest over the last three to four years.
As Sushil Kumar became the second Indian man after KD Jadhav to win a medal in wrestling in Beijing 2008, the flutter that wrestling had been causing over the past decade had turned into the cynosure of all sports fans' eyes.
After Kumar bettered his medal return with a silver, while Dutt o heroically dug into his vast reserves to win the bronze medal bout with a swollen face, the sport shot into the mainstream, attracting corporate sponsorship interest as brands looked to cash in on the increasing spectator interest.
The introduction of the Pro Wrestling League, a franchisee-based competition started by Pro-Sportify, paved the way for Indian talent to test their strength against the best in the business outside the main competitions organised by the global governing body, United World Wrestling.
Meanwhile, the whole wrestling world had suffered a jolt in early 2013 when it ran afoul of the International Olympic Committee and wrestling was dropped as a core sport for the 2020 Olympics.
The future of thousands of boys and girls practising with renewed vigour across the akhadas suddenly looked bleak again after this tumultuous decision threatened to pull the plug on their Olympic hopes.
Fortunately, wrestling managed to make a comeback in September 2013 after edging out men’s baseball, women’s softball and squash, which were touted as possible alternatives. The governing body claimed it had “learnt its lesson” and would strive to continue the “modernisation” of the sport which had been a part of the Games and its ancient counterpart.
Shooting from the hip
Dutt’s stature, both on social media and in sporting circles, kept growing as a report on sports compensation in India found that he earned more money per minute from his PWL exploits than even superstar cricketers such as MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.
He has also never shied away from being critical, either with his forthright views on the Jawaharlal Nehru University furore earlier this year on Twitter, or from throwing his weight behind Narsingh Yadav’s selection, a decision that surprised many who thought Dutt would speak for his longtime friend and fellow wrestler, Sushil Kumar.
Narsingh Yadav, who won a quota for the country via the World Wrestling Championships in the 74 kg freestyle in 2015 successfully managed to fend off a legal appeal from Sushil Kumar to hold trials for the sport, but seems to have thrown his chances away after news of his failing a doping test came through on Sunday. A decision on whether Yadav will head to Rio or not should come soon.
Calm amid chaos
Much has been written about the saga and Sushil Kumar has arguably dragged himself, the Wrestling Federation of India, Yadav and the entire wrestling continent through a great deal of controversy on the eve of the Games. And if Yadav earns himself a ban for doping, he will have made it worse for the sport, notwithstanding his claim of a huge “conspiracy”.
Dutt had found himself in a similar situation on winning a quota place for the 2004 Olympics in the 55 kg freestyle section ahead of Kripa Shankar Patel, who had launched an appeal in the Delhi High Court to hold trials. In 2004, much like this time, the court had decreed that the spot belonged to the individual who had won the quota.
While Sushil Kumar has failed to adjust to the new weight categories and has struggled to cope with the 74 kg class after his previous weight classification was scrapped, Dutt has seamlessly stepped up into the 65 kg class after winning gold in five tournaments over the last two years. He has also suffered his fair share of injuries and has had five surgeries since London 2012, but looks in good shape in the run-up to the main event.
Dark horse
Apart from Dutt, the other two medal hopefuls for India in wrestling are both freestylers – Sandeep Tomar in the men's 57 kg and Vinesh Phogat in the women’s 48 kg categories. Tomar is arguably the dark horse of the contingent, as he has defeated two-time World Champion Sezar Agkul on his way to clinching a spot in Rio.
Phogat, who belongs to a family of wrestlers, has seen it all at a tender age of 21. She hit a low when thrown out of an Olympic qualifier for being 400 grams over the permissible weight limit. But since then, Phogat has won medals in six of the seven international tournaments that she has participated in, including a Commonwealth Games gold. Given a favourable draw, a bronze would not be totally out of reach.
Phogat’s cousin Babita Kumari will also be representing the country in the 53 kg category, as will Sakshi Malik in the 58 kg category. These two women, while having done extremely well to qualify, will hope to do their best. But are likely to face too many tough opponents to harbour any realistic medal hopes.
The same goes for the two men who qualified in the Greco-Roman category, Ravinder Khatri in the 85 kg section and Hardeep Singh in the 98 kg section, swelling the size of the contingent to eight.
Dutt has always been vocal, whether about Salman Khan’s selection as India’s official Ambassador for the Games or about his naked desire to win gold in Rio. Except this time, he will be hoping for the right noises as India’s wrestling contingent goes to Rio while sailing a sea of chaos.
Dutt will do better to shut all the noises out even as a billion voices hope that the veteran “Yogi” can go all the way this time.