Sumit Kumar provided a silver finish for the host as he fought bravely against Yadollah Mohammadkazemi Mohebi of Iran before going down 6-2 in the final of the 125kg freestyle class of the Asian Wrestling Championship here on Sunday.
Incidentally, it was the only medal of the day for India which wound up with a gold, five silver and four bronze medals in the championship.
Bajrang Punia had clinched the lone gold for the host on Saturday, and the Indian women had asserted their efficiency with Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat, Divya Kakran and Sarita accounting for the other silvers.
For the few fans on the stands, who were out-cheered by the Iran fans, Sumit had raised hopes by taking a 2-1 lead, after trailing by a point initially, as he successfully caught hold of the Iranian’s legs.
However, the cheers did not last long for the host, as the Iranian swung the contest around with four points, taking the interval with a healthy 5-2 lead.
In the second session, both the wrestlers looked to be happy to pass time, and the Iranian managed to add one more point to emerge a deserving winner.
Iran clinched the overall team championship in freestyle ahead of Japan and Uzbekistan.
Quite fittingly, Satpal Singh — former Asian Games gold medallist and coach of double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar — presented the medal for Sumit and congratulated him for his creditable performance.
Sumit had opened with a 6-3 victory over Taiki Yamamoto in the quarterfinals and had beaten Farkhod Anakulov of Tajikistan 7-2 in the semifinals.
The other Indians in the fray bowed out on account of technical fall in the quarterfinals. Somveer was beaten 11-0 in the 86kg class by Gwanuk Kim of Korea, Vinod Kumar was ousted 12-2 by Momojiro Nakamura of Japan in the 70kg category, and Harphool, who started with a technical fall 11-0 victory over Divoshan Charles Fernando of Sri Lanka, was defeated 7-5 by Rei Higuchi of Japan.
The disappointment of the climax apart, the host had done very well to assert itself as an emerging force in Asia, despite the absence of star wrestlers.
