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Iranian grapplers in limelight

By Kirti Patil

The Iranian team (left) which won the overall title in both the men's freestyle and Greco-Roman section and Japan, which took the top honours in the women's freestyle events in the Asian wrestling championship in New Delhi on Sunday. — Photo: Sandeep Saxena

NEW DELHI JUNE 8. India's over-bloated expectations from super-heavy wrestler Palwinder Cheema burst like a balloon punctured with a needle. This was the typical story of the Indian competitiveness in the 16th Asian wrestling championship here on Sunday.

Up against twice Asian champion Rezaei Alireza of Iran, the much taller and heavier Cheema deflated even before the full time was up in the men's 120-kg freestyle class. Just as Rezaei dominated Cheema, Iran, with a virtual second-string team, ruled the mat with authority.

Iran won the overall championship in both the men's styles — freestyle and Greco-Roman, while Japan emerged the women's champion. India took solace with second placing in the women's and men's freestyle, though it failed to strike any gold medal.

Cheema's was the tale of the classic Indian surrender, just as Geetika Jakhar and Gurbinder Singh had been on Saturday. Despite his disadvantage with height, Rezaei kept Cheema on the check and scored regular points.

Even before a minute was over in the first half, Rezaei had managed to score three points. The Iranian kept concentrating on Cheema's feet movements and twice got hold of him there to score points on a drop. Just before the close of the first half, Rezaei held Cheema by his waist and took a roll with him on the mat for a massive 7-0 lead.

A clinch in the final stages gave Rezaei all the necessary points and the referee announced Cheema's technical fall with 38 seconds still on the clock.

The freestyle class was Iran's forte. The 96-kg freestyle World champion Hiqueri Alireza faced a stiff challenge from Ibragimov Mogomed of Uzbekistan before winning 6-0. The scoreline may portray a one-sided bout, but Mogomed did hassled the pride of the champion.

Of the seven gold medals on offer, Iranians were in all the finals. It could have been 7-0 for Iran but for Tajik Abdusalomiv Yousup. In the 74-kg class, Yousup held on to his slender lead against Ramazan Zadeh Reza and won 6-5, a result with which the Iranian was certainly not amused.

In the Greco-Roman class, Kazakhstan won three gold medals while Korea shocked Iran to grab two gold medals.

Medal-wise, Iran was pushed to the third place, having collected one gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

In the 96-kg Greco-Roman final, Han Tae Young of Korea snatched the final medal on offer on the concluding day of the championship.

No one gave the other wrestler any chance and the Korean had 1-0 lead at the end of the full time.

In extra time, Hashen Zadeh Masoud levelled the scores after Young had made it 2-0. Since the deadlock remained, the match referee went through the passivity scores and declared Young the winner.

The women's section saw India squandering yet another chance to make a big splash.

In the 67-kg class, Kiran Sihag meekly gave up against Norie Saito of Japan. Though only just 1.49 minutes had passed on the clock, Norie had taken enough lead to force the referee to stop the bout.

The results:

Men's freestyle:

Final: 60-kg: Mohammadi Seyed Morad (Iri) bt Zakhart Dinov Damir (Uzb) 3-2; 74-kg: Abdusalomiv Yousup (Tjk) bt Ramazan Zadeh Reza (Iri) 6-5; 96-kg: Hiequri Alireza (Iri) bt Ibragimov Mogomed (Uzb) 6-0; 120-kg: Rezaei Alireza (Iri) bt Palwinder Cheema (Ind) TF.

Third place: 60-kg: Sushil Kumar (Ind) bt Jung Yong (Kor) 10-4; 74-kg: Sujit Mann (Ind) w.o Gennadiy Lalivev (Kaz); 96-kg: Nuzhzan Katayev (Kaz) bt Enkhtuya Turskintue (Mgl) 3-0; 120-kg: Mazid Mutaliuov (Kaz) bt Gankhuyag Dorjpalam (Mgl) 3-0.

Semifinals: 60-kg: Mohammadi Seyed Morad (Iri) bt Sushil Kumar (Ind) 3-1; Zakhart Dinov Damir (Uzb) bt Jung Yong (Kor) 4-2; 74-kg: Abdusalomov Yousup (Tjk) bt Gennadiy Lalivev (Kaz) 3-1; Ramazan Zadeh Reza (Iri) bt Sujit Mann (Ind) 5-2; 96-kg: Hiequri Alireza (Iri) bt Nuzhzan Katayev (Kaz) 8-3; Ibragimov Mogomed (Uzb) bt Enkhtuya Turskintue (Mgl) 3-1.

Men's Greco-Roman: Final: 60-kg: Hudoyber Dievasliddin (Uzb) bt Ashkaani Aghbolagh Ali (Iri) 4-2; 74-kg: Choi Duk Hoon (Kor) bt Turdien Jhongir (Uzb) 3-0; 96-kg: Han Tae Young (Kor) bt Hashen Zadeh Masoud (Iri) 3-2; 120-kg: Tsurtsumia Georgiy (Kaz) bt Park Woo (Kor) 5-0.

Third place: 60-kg: Kim Bong Suk (Kor) bt Ravinder Kumar (Ind) 3-2; 74-kg: Rustem Baiseitov (Kaz) bt Pouynaki Mohsen (Iri) 3-1; 96-kg: Assembekov Margulan (Kaz) bt Yusuke Morikaku (Jpn) 3-0; 120-kg: Gharibi ALiyeza (Iri) bt Virender Singh (Ind) fall.

Semifinals: 74-kg: Turdien Jhongir (Uzb) bt Pouynaki Mohsen (Iri) 4-2; Choi Duk Hoon (Kor) bt Rustem Baiseitov (Kaz) 8-1.

Women's freestyle:

Final: 51-kg: Nonako Hattori (Jpn) bt Emkhjargal Isogtbazar (Mgl) fall; 67-kg: Norie Saito (Jpn) bt Kiran Sihag (Ind) TF.

Third place: 51-kg: Renu Bala (Ind) bt Wang Xing (Tpe) 6-1.

League: Fourth round: 59-kg: Rena Iwamo (Jpn) bt Myagmar Suren Tumen (Mgl) fall; Huang Yu Ning (Tpe) bt Roza (Kaz) 9-5; Alka Tomar (Ind) bt Huang Yu Ning (Tpe) 12-3; Myagmar Suren Tumen (Mgl) bt Roza (Kaz) fall; 72-kg: Svetlana Yazo (Kaz) bt Burmaa Ochirbat (Mgl) 4-2; Kang Min Jeong (Kor) bt Burmaa Ochirbat (Mgl) fall. Third round: 59-kg: Rena Iwamo (Jpn) bt Huang Yu Ning (Tpe) fall; Alka Tomar (Ind) bt Roza (Kaz) fall.

Medals tally (gold-silver-bronze):

Men's freestyle: Iran 6-1-0; Tajikistan 1-1-0; Uzbekistan 0-2-0; India 0-1-3; Korea 0-1-0; Japan 0-1-0; Kazakhstan 0-0-3; Mongolia 0-0-1.

Men's Greco-Roman: Kazakhstan 3-0-2; Korea 2-1-2; Iran 1-3-2; Uzbekistan 1-2-0; India 0-1-0; Kyrgyzstan 0-0-1.

Women's freestyle: Japan 5-1-0; Mongolia 1-2-1; Kazakhstan 1-0-0; India 0-2-3; Korea 0-1-2; Chinese Taipei 0-1-0. (As there were only two entries in 67-kg class one bronze medal remained unaccounted).

Team championship:

Men: Freestyle: 1. Iran 68 points; 2. India 47; 3. Japan 36. Greco-Roman: 1. Iran 60; 2. Kazakhstan 57; 3. Uzbekistan 49.

Women: Freestyle: 1. Japan 65; 2. India 54; 3. Mongolia 37.

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