Yogeshwar Dutt believes it would be best if the London Games silver medal in 60kg weight category is reinstated to late Russian grappler Besik Kudukhov.
Kudukhov’s retested sample has returned positive with banned substance paving way for the Indian’s bronze to be upgraded to silver medal. Yogeshwar said humanity was above all for him.
“Besik Kudukhov shandaar pehelwaan the. Unke mrityu ke baad dope test mein fail ho jana dukhad hai. Main khiladi ke roop mein main unka samaan karta hoon” (Besik Kudukhov was a magnificent wrestler. His dope test returning positive after his death is sad. As an athlete, I respect him), Yogeshwar wrote on his twitter handle on Wednesday.
“Agar ho sake toh yeh medal unhi ke paas rehne diya jaaye, unke pariwar ke liye bhi samaanpurna hoga. Mere liye manaviya samvedana sarvopari hai.” (If possible he must be allowed to keep the medal. It will be respectful to his family also. For me humanity is above everything).
The four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kudukhov had died in a car crash in 2013. He failed a World Anti-Doping Agency dope test conducted on his sample.
Yogeshwar, who had lost to Kudukhov in the pre-quarterfinals at London before taking the repechage route to win the bronze medal.
The grappler will have to wait to know whether his bronze medal from the 2012 London Olympics is upgraded to silver till the time his sample is cleared by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The official confirmation, though, is still awaited from the United World Wrestling.
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