Sajan stuns Iran’s Afifi for gold, India pick four medals

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 17

Iran’s Shayan Hossein Afifi looked a spent force for much of the second period as he trailed India’s Sajan in the 77kg final of the Greco-Roman category.  India coach Naresh Kumar had given only one instruction to his ward —  keep his opponent in a passive mode. The strategy worked like a charm as Sajan tamed the fancied Iranian 3-0 to bag the first gold medal for India at the 2018 Asian Junior Wrestling Championships here today.

Unlike most Indian wrestlers, who shift to the Greco-Roman discipline after failing to make the grade in freestyle, the 19-year-old Sajan has been training to be a Greco-Roman grappler since he was 10. Sajan, who is a trainee at the Pratap Singh Senior Secondary School in Kharkhoda, Haryana, said Greco-Roman was his first love. “I did some freestyle wrestling early on but switched to Greco-Roman as I knew I would be much better here,” he said minutes after winning the final.

“Last time I had won a bronze, so I am very happy to convert it to gold this time. Next target is the Junior World Championships, where I won a bronze last time and hopefully I will be able to convert it to gold there as well.” 

Kumar said Sajan’s early start shaped his very ‘international’ stance. “His stance is much better compared to most Indians who switch to Greco-Roman after failing in freestyle. His trunk attacks are also very effective,” said Kumar. “If you see, he got the first point when he forced the Iranian to stay passive in the bout. That was the plan and he executed it to perfection.” 

Hosts up and running

The hosts had a fruitful Day 1 with four of the five wrestlers winning a medal. Sajan was the lone gold winner for India today, while Vijay (55kg) and Aryan Pawar (130kg) settled for silver, and Sunil Kumar won bronze. Vijay lost his bout to Iran’s Pouya Mohammad Naserpoli. He was down 0-6 in the first 30 seconds and lost 0-8 on technical superiority. In the super heavyweight category, Aryan lost 1-2 to Iran’s Amin Mohannadzaman Mirzazadeh. Sunil beat Japan’s Hiroto Totomura by technical superiority after going up 10-0 in the bout.