New Delhi:
It was another golden day for the Indian wrestlers as Yogeshwar Dutt and Narsingh Panch Yadav won gold medals in the 60 kg and 74 kg freestyle category at the Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.
While Yogeshwar simply outclassed his Canadian opponent James Mancini 9-2 (3-1, 6-1), Narsing's was a hard-fought win over his South African opponent Richard Addinall with the margin being 4-0. Another wrestler Anil Mann, however, lost in the first round.
With Rahul Gandhi in the stands to cheer the Indian wrestlers, they didn't disappoint the jam-packed partisan crowd at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex. Yogeshwar infact went up to seek Congress MP's blessings after winning his bout.
It was contrasting victories for Yogeshwar and Narsingh. For Yogeshwar, who has been battling a career threatening knee injury, the gold was the much needed morale booster he needed. After being out for a year and half, Yogeshwar came back at the World Championship but lost in the first round.
"I can't tell you how happy I am having won the gold medal. I am speechless as Mr Rahul Gandhi came to watch us fight. In fact, Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda called up this morning to inform that Rahul sir will come to watch us fight. When I went up, he told me that now I should get gold for the country in Olympics, a beaming Yogeshwar told the mediapersons.
"After coming back from injury, I fought really hard to get back my form. But I must also thank the crowd for coming in huge numbers and supporting us. You always feel that you need to win in front of your home crowd who have paid a price to buy the tickets," said Yogeshwar, who literally ran out of breath while speaking to mediapersons.
So what are the qualities that he attributes to his fairytale comeback? "Willpower. I knew I had to make a comeback. I still feel that there is not much time to relax. Hopefully by tomorrow, I will be again back training hard for the Guangzhou Asian Games."
Yogeshwar also feels that on Sunday Sushil Kumar will also win gold.
For Narsingh, who was not initially selected in the CWG wrestling squad, the victory means that he had put the doubts about his abilities to rest.
"I was very upset when initially I wasn't selected. But after my selection, I didn't want to look back. The focus was solely on winning the gold medal," said the Railway employee from Maharashtra.
On whether he expected to be rewarded in right earnest after this performance, he said "My job is to win medals. If I get rewarded well and good but that's not the priority," Narsingh said before he was frisked away for the customary dope test