India had another disappointing day on the mat as the home wrestlers drew a blank on the second consecutive day of the Asian wrestling championship at the K.D. Jadhav Stadium, inside the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, here on Friday.
Bhim Singh, fighting in the 96kg Greco Roman competition, was the only Indian wrestler to reach the repechage round.
Other Indians in action, Rajbir Chhikara (74kg) and Harpreet Singh (84kg) in Greco Roman and Priyanka Singh (48kg) in the women’s competition, made early exits.
It was an emotional story for the Indian camp as both Bhim and Rajbir, who lost their fathers a few days ago, took to the mat despite their personal tragedies.
The cup of woes overflew for Bhim, who was taken off the ‘field of play’ on a stretcher after injuring his right leg.
Bhim started on a bright note as he rallied to beat Aman Toktogonov of Kyrgyzstan (0-1, 1-0, 4-0). However, he was outmuscled by Kazakh Yerulan Iskakov (0-7, 0-6) in the second round.
A little bit of luck helped the Indian make it to the repechage round after Iskakov got past Iranian D. Gilnirang in a controversial semifinal bout.
The Iranian pinned the Kazakh on the mat more than once.
But the referee’s decision went in favour of Iskakov, who utilised the opportunity to turn the table on Gilnirang amid loud booing from the Iranian supporters in the stands.
In the bout for the bronze medal, Bhim gave a strong challenge to the Gilnirang in the first period.
However, he conceded a point after failing to breach the Iranian’s defence in clinch.
Gilnirang completely dominated the second period. He earned a point and banked on his quick moves to add four more to it. The Iranian gathered three additional points while trying to push Bhim out of the red zone.
In the process, the Indian badly sprained his right leg and had to be shouldered off the mat.
Rajbir defeated Chinese wrestler Pengfei Yan (0-2, 1-0, 1-0) in the opening round before going down to Japanese Tomohiro Inoue (0-1, 0-2). Harpreet lost to Taichi Oka of Japan (2-0, 0-1, 0-2) in the first round.
Priyanka, who had a promising start, was shown the door by Ayano Suzuki of Japan (6-1, 3-0, 3-1).
The medallists:
Men: Greco Roman: 74kg: 1. Hyeon Woo Kim (Kor), 2. H. Pournia Alizadeh (Iri), 3. Maxat Yerezhepov (Kaz) and Tomohiro Inoue (Jpn).
84kg: 1. Rustam Assakalov (Uzb), 2. Jin-Sung Park (Kor), 3. Azat Beishebekov (Kgz) and T. Nematpour (Iri).
96kg: 1. Chang-Gun An (Kor), 2. Yerulan Iskakov (Kaz), 3. Yahia Abo Tabeekh (Jor) and D. Gilnirang (Iri).
Women: Freestyle: 1. Mi Pak Yong (PRK), 2. Thi Hang Vu (Vie), 3. Mikhrniso Nurmatova (Kgz) and Ayano Suzuki (Jpn).
