Yogeshwar gunning for World Championship medal

New Delhi: With an Olympics bronze medal in his kitty, Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt now aims for the elusive World Championship medal.

"My next aim is to win a World Championship medal. Having won a medal in all of the important wrestling tournaments in the world, the World Championship medal is the only one which eludes me. So I want it really badly," Yogeshwar told IANS. Yogeshwar won the bronze in the 60kg freestyle event at the London Games becoming the third Indian wrestler after Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav and two-time medallist Sushil Kumar to win an Olympic medal.

He has also won a bronze in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, a gold each in the 2012 Asian Wrestling Championships in Gumi and 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"I am gunning for the world championship medal. It will take time but I am training for it. I will participate in the Asian Wrestling Championships which will be held here in Delhi. It will help me prepare mentally and physically for the World Championships. Asia has emerged as an important wrestling zone in the world today and we will have good wrestlers participating here," said Yogeshwar, who trains at the Chhatrasal Stadium here.

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee's best performance in the World Championships has been a fifth place finish that he achieved in both 2005 and 2006. The Asian Championships will be held in Delhi in April while the World Championships will be held next September in Budapest. The grappler attended Sunday's Indian Grand Prix and said he was excited to see Michael Schumacher.

"I am not an avid follower of this sport but I watch it sometimes on TV. This was the first time I got a chance to see it live and it was brilliant. I was very excited about it. It is great to see such a spectacle happening in India and the entire world talking about it," said Yogeshwar, who was a special invitee at the race with fellow Olympians Sushil Kumar, Vijay Kumar, Deepika Kumari and Gagan Narang.

"My favourite driver is Michael Schumacher. I have seen him drive on TV and I regularly read about him in the papers. He is one of the greatest," he added.