‘It’s a blatant lie’: Yogeshwar Dutt on Bajrang Punia's 'losing matches on purpose' claim

Yogeshwar Dutt; (right) Bajrang Punia during the wrestlers’ protests against WFI president Brij Bhushan Singh in New Delhi last month. Pic/AFP

Bajrang Punia's claim that ‘I asked him to concede wrestling bouts on purpose' is nothing but a "blatant lie", 2012 London Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt said on Sunday as the mud-slinging match between the top wrestlers of the country continued.

Bajrang, in a live social media address, had claimed on Saturday that the London Olympics bronze medallist several times asked him to lose matches on purpose in the past.

"I never told him to lose any match. It's a blatant lie," Yogeshwar told PTI when asked about Bajrang's claim.

Head-to-head battles

"During the [2016] Olympic qualification, he was part of the 65kg trials, but we were not pitted against each other. Amit Dhankar had defeated him. In the final bout, I fought against Amit," he said.

"In the Pro Wrestling League, we fought against each other. There I won 3-0. If I wanted, I could have scored more and everybody knows that it was a show fight."

Dutt, who is now a BJP leader, said he always took Bajrang on foreign training trips as his sparring partner.

Also Read: Yogeshwar Dutt criticises exemption given to six protesting wrestlers by IOA ad-hoc panel

"Before 2016 Olympics whenever I went abroad I took Bajrang along with me. Despite all this, he has betrayed me. I don't know why is he accusing me and tarnishing my image."

Yogeshwar feels that Bajrang is just trying to settle scores against him by levelling such false allegations after they decided to split in 2018.

"In 2018 Bajrang told me that ‘let me go to Commonwealth Games and you go to Asian Games' but I told him I will go through the trials. After that he got angry with me and we stopped talking to each other," he claimed.

"After 2016 Rio Olympics I never participated in any tournament, I never attended any camp. In camps there are many wrestlers in one weight category. Anybody can beat anyone.

"But I was never in the reckoning, I left wrestling, anyone could have beaten me easily. I left competitive wrestling in 2018, I am now a former wrestler."

Bajrang had claimed that in a final match in Italy, Dutt told him to concede the final. "You told me that I am first and you are second. You did not think of your junior player that if he wins, it will benefit him," Bajrang said. However, Dutt, did not accept that he did something like that. "In our religion ‘gau mata' [mother cow] is considered holy and I can swear on gau mata that I never asked Bajrang to concede a match," said Dutt.

Bajrang's accusations came after Dutt questioned the exemption from Asian Games and World Championship trials was handed to six protesting wrestlers by the IOA ad-hoc panel.

Vinesh posts letter

Meanwhile, Vinesh Phogat on Sunday posted an undated letter on social media to prove that the six protesting wrestlers did not demand exemption from Asian Games trials and they sought only time till August for preparation. Vinesh shared a picture of the letter, which mentions six wrestlers, including herself for some extra time for training ahead of the trials. The six protesting wrestlers were handed one-bout trials by the IOA ad-hoc panel, a move that was criticised by several established and upcoming wrestlers as they demanded fair trials for everyone.

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