Mumbai: Staying fit and winning a gold at World championship remains the main priority for Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt but the injury-prone Indian wrestler said he might need to skip either the Commonwealth Games or Asian Games depending on his fitness next year.
"My biggest problem is of injury. I get injured a lot.
"Right now I am fit but I have had a lot of injuries. Sometimes in the back, sometimes in the knee. So, my aim is to stay fit," Yogeshwar said.
"I don't have a world championship medal, I hope to fulfil that in 2014 and win a gold for the country," added Yogeshwar, who missed the 2013 World Championship in Hungary last month due to injury.
The 30-year-old wrestler suffered a ligament tear in his right knee in July and was forced out of the World Championships in Hungary. With the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games to be held next year, the grappler said he could skip any one of the events depending on his fitness.
"In 2013, I couldn't play the World Championship. My entire year for almost 8-9 months was bad (as I couldn't play due to injury) and now I have recovered from the injury and started the practice," said Yogeswar, who is currently training 5-6 hours a day at the Police Academy in Karnal.
"Next year there is Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championship, I hope to win medals in that. If I am fit then I will play in all of them or just two of them. I will miss either the Asian Games or the Commonwealth Games because fitness is important," he said.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist said he carefully picks the tournaments that he participates in, as he is wary about getting injured.
"In 2009 I had a knee injury, in 2010 after the Commonwealth Games I had the back injury. After the 2009 knee injury, I play selective tournaments, because then you have to lose weight.
"If you lose weight then there is a problem because the muscles weaken and there is a higher chance of getting injured. That is why I play in good tournaments and tournaments where there is hope of winning. I am very cautious because fitness is very important for me," he said.
Yogeshwar said he is also focusing on the 2016 Olympics at Rio de Janeiro and hopes to win a gold there.
"There is three years for the next Olympics. The focus is on 2016, but before that I have to remain fit. If I am fit, then this time I will try to change the colour of the medal and win a gold for the country. Last Olympics we had two (in wrestling) and I hope next time we have three or four (in wrestling)," he said.
The Olympian said that the young crop of wrestlers performed well at the World Championship, so there are many contenders now in the mat sport.
"In World Championship, Sandeep (Yadav) got a bronze, Bajrang got a bronze, then there is Amit Kumar, Sushil (Kumar), so we are at least 6-7 wrestlers. Out of that, we will definitely get 3-4 medals then," he said.
Explaining the reason behind the recent success of Indian grapplers, the 2012 Asian wrestling champion said: "Wrestlers are getting motivated. Bajrang and Amit live with us. They are juniors but they see us and learn from us. They train with us.
"That is one advantage. Hopefully we will get more medals in the future."
The world body had decided to reduce the number of existing seven weights to six, with a slight shuffle in the weight categories and Yogeshwar, who currently participates in the 60-kg category, said he will move to a higher weight category if the new change is implemented.
"The weight categories have not changed yet. Six weights are likely to be introduced. The final decision has not come on that. If they implement the changes, I don't know what weights will come but I will move to a higher weight category and not a lower one," he said.
On his academy in Haryana, he said: "The work will commence soon. We have finished the base and it will be ready in one to one and half years and we will start it."
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