New Delhi, Jul 11: A bronze in the Beijing Games four years ago came as a surprise for many but as the London Olympic Games draw closer, the country's grapplers led by Sushil Kumar will be out to prove that they are no longer the dark horses.

With a total of five wrestlers in the fray for the Olympics this year, the country is hoping nothing less than a couple of yellow strips from its athletes and the onus once again is on the tried and tested pair of Sushil and Yogeshwar Dutt.

While Sushil who clinched the lone medal in the previous Olympics will look to improve upon his performance, his long-time friend Yogeshwar would like to forget his last Olympic outing and put up an improved performance in what would probably be his last appearance on the big stage.

After missing a sure shot medal in the dying moments of his quarter-final bout in Beijing, Yogeshwar would not want to settle for anything less than a gold in London and going by his recent performance, the grappler seems quite capable of achieving the desired result with a bit of luck going in his favour.

"If I would have won a medal in the Beijing, probably I would not have been competing in the London Games," said Yogeshwar, who suffered a career-threatening knee injury just after the 2008 edition.

"The only inspiration for me to make a comeback from the injury was to be able to contest in the London Olympics and bring laurels to my country," said the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medallist.

PTI