New Delhi: Freestyle wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, on Tuesday, celebrated the news that his 2012 London Olympics bronze medal was set to be upgraded to silver and said he dedicated the new medal to all his countrymen.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), however, stopped itself from celebrating Yogeshwar's new status saying it was yet to receive any official confirmation from the United World Wrestling (UWW), the parent body.

"Since the silver medallist in Yogeshwar's event (60kg) has been stripped of his medal for testing positive, the medal should automatically come to Yogeshwar. We have written to UWW for a clarification but are yet to receive a reply... It might take a few days... UWW has given us a verbal assurance that Yogeshwar is the now a silver medallist," said a WFI official.

"If a medallist has tested positive for a banned substance, then the standard procedure is to give his medal to the next best athlete. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has to inform the WFI, International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UWW about the development. It might take some time for Yogeshwar to get the silver medal," said another official.

Equally guarded in its reaction was the sports ministry. "We haven't heard anything officially yet. In case the wrestler is given the silver medal by the UWW and the IOC, then Yogeshwar would definitely receive all the financial benefits attached to it as per the government rules," said a ministry official.

As per the arrangements in 2012, Yogeshwar received Rs 18 lakh for winning the bronze, while Sushil Kumar, was richer by Rs 30 lakh for bagging the silver medal. An official confirmation would fetch the additional money for Yogeshwar.

Yogeshwar, however, was confident that the medal would be his very soon. The wrestler tweeted: "Today morning, I came to know that my medal has been upgraded to silver. I dedicate my medal to all the countrymen."

A similar incident happened with another Indian athlete, Anju Bobby George, after she won the silver medal in the 2005 World Athletics Finals in Monte Carlo. The medal was later upgraded to gold after the disqualification of Tatyana Kotova of Russia for testing positive.

The sudden excitement in India was created following a report in international media, which said that Russia's Besik Kudukhov, who finished second in the 60-kg freestyle event in the London Games in 2012, had tested positive for a banned substance.

In view of Besik's disqualification, it was automatic upgradation to silver for Yogeshwar.

According to a Russian agency, the four-time world champion and two-time Olympic medallist Kudukhov has been stripped off the silver medal. Interestingly, the Russian wrestler had died in a car crash in 2013.

The IOC re-tested Kudukhov samples collected at London keeping in view the new rules and a recent expose of doping scandals in Russian sports.

The standard practice, which involves re-testing of samples stored for up to 10 years to allow the use of advanced testing methods to weed out dope cheats, conducted by the IOC has now paved the way for Yogeshwar to join the ranks of wrestler Sushil Kumar and shooter Vijay Kumar as silver medallists for India in 2012.

In London, Yogeshwar had lost his pre-quarterfinal bout to Kudukhov. When the Russian wrestler reached the final, Yogeshwar got another opportunity for a podium finish in the repechage rounds. He defeated Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico, Masoud Esmaeilpour of Iran and Ri Jong Myong of North Korea to claim the bronze.