Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Aug.21 : India's hopes of ending their Rio Olympic campaign on a high received a major setback as wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt suffered a crushing 0-3 defeat against Mongolia's Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran in the qualification round of the Men's Freestyle 65kg event here on Sunday.
The 2012 London bronze medallist, who endured an injury-plagued season last year, looked out of sorts and a bit defensive throughout the fight as he has almost diminished India's chances of clinching their third medal at the prestigious quadrennial event.
Dutt's medal hopes are now hanging by a thread as his progress and chances of getting back into the medal contention depends on Ganzorig, who has to make it to the final to help the Indian qualify for the repechage round.
With unheralded wrestler Sakshi Malik (bronze) and ace shuttler PV Sindhu (silver) bringing an end to India's agonising wait for an Olympic medal in Rio, the entire nation had earlier pinned high hopes on 2014 Asian Games gold medallist Yogeshwar to bring home another medal.
Dutt earned an Olympic quota berth from Asian Olympic qualifiers held in Astana in February this year.
Source: ANI
