I have had sleepless nights for last four years: Yogeshwar Singh

Having realised his dream of winning a medal at the Olympics, star grappler Yogeshwar Dutt says, he would now be able to "sleep soundly" after having "sleepless nights" since Beijing Olympics where he lost in quarterfinals in the last 10 seconds.

The 29-year-old from village Bhainswal Kalan in district Sonepat in Haryana said the absence of an Olympic medal from his cabinet gave him sleepless nights over the years and he could now atleast afford to relax a bit.

"For the last four years, I used to wake-up with the dream of winning a medal at the Olympics and I am thankful that God has been kind to me this time around. Atleast, I can now enjoy a sound sleep," Yogeshwar said, at his residence with a dazzle in his eyes.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist was ousted from the Beijing Olympics in the dying moments of his quarterfinal bout against Kenichi Yumoto of Japan and his fears almost came true this time around as he lost to Russia's Besik Kudukhov in the pre-quarterfinal before coming back strongly in the repechage round to clinch a bronze.

"The loss to Kudukhov was very disturbing. I had put a lot of hardwork to reach the Olympics this time and did not want to return empty handed. But I knew the Russian can make it to the finals and I started gearing up for the repechage without wasting much of a time thinking about the loss," said

Yogeshwar as his phone continuously buzzed with the congratulatory calls.

Yogeshawar got better off Puerto Rico's Franklin Gomez Matos 3-0 in the first bout of the repechage round before overcoming Masoud Esmaeilpoorjouybari of Iran 3-1 in the next.

He then defeated Jong Myong Ri of North Korea 3-1 to bag the elusive medal.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Wigan, from grade 'F' to 'A'

IPL 2013: We still have a fair chance, says Gautam Gambhir

Spanish Grand Prix: Force India's Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil to start 10th, 13th

IPL 2013: Sunrisers beat KXIP by 30 runs to remain in hunt for play-offs