Rio de Janeiro, Aug 21: In a massive setback to India's last hope of winning a third Olympic medal on the final day of the Rio Olympics 2016, wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt's challenge came to a shocking end on Sunday (Aug 21).
India's star wrestler first lost his opening bout to Mongolia's Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran 0-3 and his chance to win a repechage also ended after the Mongolian was defeated by Russia's Soslon Ramonov in the 65kg quarter final.
With Yogeshwar's journey in Rio coming to an end, India's challenge in the Rio Games also ended and the nation had to satisfy with just two medals (1 silver, 1 bronze) in its kitty.
The Indian wrestler looked out of shape from the very beginning as he was not in his usual form. The wrestler from Haryana took a defensive stand from the beginning of the bout which also saw him get penalised.
The London Olympic bronze-medallist's lost to Mandakhnaran, the gold-medallist from the 2010 Asian Games and a two-time World Championships bronze-winner.
As Mandakhnaran failed to make it to the final, Yogeshwar didn't get to fight two repechage rounds before entering the bronze medal playoff.
The 33-year-old grappler from Haryana, who was playing in his fourth and, in all probability, last Olympics, looked a pale shadow of his previous self as he lost 0-3 to the Mongolian grappler.
From the very beginning, Yogeshwar failed to get around the Mandakhnaran, who moved at a very fast pace.
In the opening period, Mandakhnaran earned a point in 30 seconds due to the passivity of Yogeshwar to take a 1-0 lead. Mandakhnaran then turned a defensive position into an attacking one to take down Yogeshwar and quickly bag two points to surge ahead.
With a minute to go, Yogeshwar failed to get around his opponent and went into the break 0-3 down. Yogeshwar, who qualified only in March this year for the Rio Games after struggling with a knee injury, was expected to turn the tables in the second period but he just could not script a comeback. In the last minute of the bout, he tried to pin down his rival but all his efforts went in vain.
OneIndia News
(With inputs from agencies)