Let late Russian’s family keep London silver: Yogeshwar

New Delhi, August 31

Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt is not keen to collect the upgraded silver medal from 2012 London Olympics on humanitarian grounds given that the original second place finisher’s positive dope test came after his death.

“Besik Kudukhov shandaar pehelwaan the (Besik Kudukhov was a magnificent wrestler). Unke mirtyu ke baad dope test mein fail ho jana bahut dukht hai (His dope test returning positive after his death is very sad). Khiladi ke roop mein main unka samaan karta hoon (As a wrestler, I respect him),” Yogeshwar wrote on his twitter handle.

“Agar ho sake toh yeh medal unhi ke paas rehne diya jaaye (If possible, he should be allowed to keep the medal). Unke pariwar ke liye bhi samaan purna hoga (It will keep his family’s honour intact). Mere liye manaviya samvedana sarvopari hai (For me humanity is above everything else),” he further wrote.

अगर हो सके तो ये मेडल उन्ही के पास रहने दिया जाए। उनके परिवार के लिए भी सम्मानपूर्ण होगा। मेरे लिए मानवीय संवेदना सर्वोपरि है।

— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) August 31, 2016

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The four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kudukhov, who had died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia, failed a World Anti-Doping Agency dope test conducted on his sample from 2012 before the Rio Games.

(Read: Yogeshwar’s sample will be tested before upgradation to silver)

As a result, Yogeshwar, who had bagged a bronze medal in the men’s 60kg freestyle category in London Games, joined Sushil Kumar as the other silver-medallist wrestler from the 2012 London Games.

Yogeshwar, who had bowed out in the first round of men’s 65kg freestyle at the recently concluded Rio Olympic Games, had lost to Kudukhov in the pre-quarterfinals at London.

Besik Kudukhov शानदार पहलवान थे। उनका मृत्यु के पश्चात dope test में fail हो जाना दुखद हैं। मैं खिलाड़ी के रूप में उनका सम्मान करता हूँ।

— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) August 31, 2016

But once the Russian advanced into the final, Yogeshwar got another chance in the repechage round and went on to win a bronze.

The 33-year-old wrestler would be handed a silver medal after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) gets the confirmation in writing from the World body (UWW).

Yogeshwar, after getting the news of his medal upgrade on Tuesday, had dedicated his silver to the country.

“I got to know this morning (Monday) that my bronze medal is getting upgraded to silver medal. I dedicate this medal also to all my countrymen,” he had tweeted on Tuesday. PTI