Indian freestyle wrestler, Yogeshwar Dutt, who had to come back India empty handed from the recent Rio Olympics, has an another good news as his bronze medal which he won at London Olympics in 2012 may get upgraded to Silver as the second finisher in the event late Besik Kudukhov (60Kg) of Russia, tested positive for doping by the Word Anti-doping agency.

Although there is no official confirmation on the issue, according to the experts, if an Olympian caught positive for the banned products the best athlete after him gets upgrade.

If the reports are true Yogeshwar Dutt will join the another silver medalist from India at London Olympics 2012, Sushil Kumar.

As per the Russian news agency, the four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medalist Kudukhov had died in a car crash in 2013 in southern Russia. His samples have been tested positive for the banned substances by the World Anti-doping Agency.

A former wrestler told a famous news channel, “If a medallist has tested positive for a banned substance, then it is a standard procedure to give his medal to the next best athlete. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has to inform the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), International Olympic Committee (IOC) and United World Wrestling about the development. It might take some time for Yogeshwar to get the silver medal.”

The Wresting Federation of India, however, told a leading daily that they are aware of the decision but they have not made any official announcement till now as the official confirmation from the IOC has not yet received.

A source in United World Wresting (UWW) told a leading daily, “The samples of five wrestlers, including Russia's Besik Kudukhov (60 kg) and Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov's (120 kg), have tested positive for banned substances. Kudukhov failed a dope test in re-tests of samples collected during the London Games. In Taymazov's case, the re-tests date back to samples collected from the Beijing Games (2008). Kudukhov is a silver medallist and Taymazon a gold-medal winner. They will lose their medals. With Kudukhov testing positive, Yogeshwar Dutt of India will get the silver.”

Earlier in 2012, in the pre-quarterfinal, Kudukhov had beaten Yogeshwar and reached the finals. In the repechage round Yogeshwar had beaten Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico, Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran and Ri Jyong-Myong of North Korea to score a bronze medal.

By Prajakt K.