News, Delhi: Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who failed to win a match at the Rio Olympics, confirmed on Tuesday in a tweet that the bronze medal that he won at the London 2012 Summer Olympics will be upgraded to silver after the silver medallist, the late Besik Kudukhov of Russia, tested positive for doping.
Now, Dutt is the second wrestler from India to win a silver medal at the London Games as he joins countryman Sushil Kumar, who finished second in the 66kg freestyle wrestling category in 2012.
Four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kudukhov, who died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia, was tested positive on the dope test conducted by the World Anti-Doping Agency. As a result, Dutt, who had bagged a bronze medal in the men’s 60kg freestyle category in the London Games, has moved up to silver.
In a tweet, Yogeshwar said his medal has been upgraded from bronze to silver. “Today morning I came to know that my Olympics medal has been upgraded to silver. I dedicate my medal to all my countrymen,” he tweeted.
आज सुबह पता चला की मेरा olympic medal upgrade हो कर Silver medal हो गया है। ये मेडल भी देशवासियों को समर्पित हैं?? pic.twitter.com/S6qxNHW9Po
— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) August 30, 2016
Kudukhov, who finished second in the 60 kg freestyle event, died in a car accident in Russia in 2013 when he was just 27 years old. The World Anti-Doping Agency re-tested the Russian champion’s sample and found that it tested positive for banned substances. The samples have now been stored for up to 10 years so that they can be used for advanced testing methods to catch dope-tainted athletes.
Dutt now joins wrestler Sushil Kumar and shooter Vijay Kumar, who had also won silver medals for India at the London Games.
In London, Yogeshwar lost the pre-quarterfinal to Kudukhov. But when the Russian reached the final, Yogeshwar got another chance in the repechage round and went on to win bronze.
So far, only five wrestlers have tested positive in the re-tests.