Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt’s bronze medal from the London Olympics has been upgraded to silver, the grappler confirmed via a tweet on Tuesday, as per a report from Times Now. The silver medallist from the 2012 Games – deceased Besik Kudukhov of Russia – has been stripped off his medal for using banned substance.
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.
As per Russian agency, flowrestling.org, the four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kudukhov’s, who had died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia, sample tested positive for a banned substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Joins Sushil Kumar as silver medal winner at the Olympics
Yogeshwar Dutt’s medal upgradation sees him join Sushil Kumar as a silver medallist in wrestling.
Before the Rio Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) re-tested Kudukhov’s sample, which was collected during the 2012 London Games. Samples are now stored for up to 10 years to use advanced testing methods to catch dope-tainted athletes.
In 2012 Games, Yogeshwar lost his pre-quarterfinal to Kudukhov. The Russian wrestler reached the final, and Yogeshwar got another opportunity to win a medal in the repechage round. In repechage he beat Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico, Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran and Ri Jong-myong of North Korea to clinch bronze.