3 silver, 1 bronze, but no gold

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 21

Indian wrestlers failed to win a gold medal for the third day in a row as three of them finished second-best in the men’s freestyle competition of the Junior Asian Championships.

Naveen (57kg), Vishal Kaliraman (70kg) and Sachin Giri (79kg) all failed to cross the final hurdle and had to settle for silver today. Vishal got the closest to the yellow metal but he lost a close bout to Iran’s Amirhossien Morteza Gholi Kavousi. With seconds remaining in the second period, Vishal was tied 7-7 with Kavousi. But Vishal was pushed out by his powerful opponent, and then he conceded two more points as he desperately tried to score, and lost 7-10.

Vishal had started with a bang as he was successful in garnering four points with a classic back salto in the first period. But the strength of the Iranian was too much for the Indian as he was pushed out of the mat on multiple occasions.

Naveen, who trains at the Chhatrasal Stadium Akhada in Delhi, was convincingly beaten 7-1 by Uzbekistan’s Gulomjon Abdullaev. The Indian trailed 0-7 early in the match and this ended his dream of gold as he needed to do far too much in the second period. “I lost my mind too early. It is very hard once you concede that many points so early in a fight,” Naveen said.

Naveen had come into the limelight when he beat Olympian Sandeep Tomar at the senior National Wrestling Championships last year in Indore. But his lack of experience at the international level showed as Abdullaev was barely challenged in the final.

‘Fitley’ for Sachin

Also losing the gold medal bout on Saturday was the 79kg wrestler from Varanasi Sachin Giri, who could last just over a minute against Iran’s Sajjad Saberali Gholami. In fact Gholami put Sachin, who was competing for his first international medal, through a leg-lace move that was made famous by Yogeshwar Dutt at the London Olympics in 2012. It’s popularly known as ‘fitley’ in India, and Sachin couldn’t wriggle out of Gholami’s hold. The Iranian was declared the winner on technical superiority after rolling Sachin a number of times.

Also making the podium on Saturday was Karan, who won his bronze medal playoff in the 65kg division. He beat Perman Hommadov of Turkmenistan 4-0.