Indian wrestlers reaped a rich-harvest of five medals in men's freestyle events on the second day of the Asian Championships on Wednesday.
All the five wrestlers who competed on the day won a medal each but none could add a gold to India’s tally.
Amit Dhankar and Vicky lost their respective gold medal bouts in the 74kg and 92kg respectively. Rahul Aware (61kg), Deepak Punia (86kg) and Sumit (125kg) swelled the Indian medal tally with a bronze each.
With the two silver and three bronze medals on Wednesday, India’s medal tally went up to one gold, three silver and four bronze.
Bajrang Punia (65kg) had won a gold on Tuesday while Parveen Rana (79kg) and Satywart Kadian (97kg) had clinched a silver and a bronze respectively.
Dhankar, who won a gold in 66kg in the 2013 edition, lost to Daniyar Kaisanov of Kazakhstan 0-5 in the final.
The 28-year-old Haryana wrestler began with a narrow 2-1 win in qualification round against Mohammad Ashghar Nokhodilarimi of Iran and then hardly broke a sweat in the quarterfinals as his opponent -- Japan's Yuhi Fujinami -- was injured.
In the semifinals, Dhankar outplayed Ilgiz Dzhakypbekov of Kyrgyzstan in a 5-0 victory.
“It is a little disappointing to not have got the gold for India once again. This loss will motivate me to strive further and give my very best for the upcoming tournaments and try to secure the Olympic berth at the World Championships later this year.”Amit Dhankar
The 28-year-old Haryana wrestler began with a narrow 2-1 win in qualification round against Mohammad Ashghar Nokhodilarimi of Iran and then hardly broke a sweat in the quarterfinals as his opponent -- Japan's Yuhi Fujinami -- was injured.
In the semifinals, Dhankar outplayed Ilgiz Dzhakypbekov of Kyrgyzstan in a 5-0 victory.
Vicky got a walkover in the quarterfinals as his opponent -- Muhammad Inam of Pakistan -- did not turn up for the bout. In the semifinals, he had a narrow 3-2 win over Xiao Sun of China.
But in the gold medal bout, Alireza Mohammad Karimimachiani of Iran was too good for Vicky and the Indian was completely outplayed in a 0-11 Victory by Technical Superiority verdict.
I wish I could have changed the score but my opponent was unfortunately too good. I hope to put in hard yards at training and make India proud in the next few tournaments coming upVicky
Aware, who won a 57kg gold at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, produced a dominant display to beat Jincheol Kim of Korea 9-2 in the men's 61kg freestyle bronze medal play-off.
After beating Jahongirmirza Turobov of Uzbekistan by technical superiority (10-0) in the qualification round, the 27-year-old Indian lost to Behnam Eshagh Ehsanpoor of Iran in the quarterfinals in a Victory by Fall verdict.
But since Ehsanpoor reached the final, Aware was up against Siripong Jumpakam of Thailand in the repechage round which he won 12-1 by virtue of technical superiority.
In the 86kg freestyle, Deepak Punia began on a bright note with a 11-7 win over Dovletmyrat Orazgylyjov of Turkmenistan in the qualification round before beating Lin Zushen of China in another victory by point.
In the semifinals, Deepak lost to Kamran Ghorban Ghasempour of Iran in a lopsided 10-0 victory by technical superiority. In the bronze medal play-off, Deepak beat Bakhodur Kodirov of Tajikistan 8-2.
For Sumit, it was a lucky bronze as he lost straightway in the quarterfinals against Zhiwe Deng of China 0-3. But since Deng reached the final, Sumit made his way to the bronze-medal play-off, where he crushed Farkhod Anakulov of Tajikistan 8-2.
On Thursday, the women wrestlers will begin their challenge. Seema (50kg), Lalita Sehrawat (55kg), Manju (59kg), Divya Kakran (68kg) and Pooja (76kg) will be in action.
The six-day Asian Wrestling Championships will continue till April 28. India has sent a 30-member squad and will look to improve their 8-medal tally of last year.
(Published in association with PTI)
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