New Delhi: India's hopes of winning a medal in the Greco-Roman category went up in smoke after Bhim Singh lost his bronze-medal bout at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship here on Friday.
Bhim was thrashed by his Iranian opponent, Davoud Gilnirang, in the 96 kg category. Davoud did not allow any opening for the Indian to score points in the bouts. The Iranian registered a resounding 1-0 8-0 win over the burly Indian, much to the disappointment of the Indian fans.
Bhim suffered a muscle strain during the match and was taken off from the arena on a stretcher. He had entered the bronze medal reckoning after winning the first repechage round 1-0 0-5 2-0 against Syria's N Saleh. Earlier, Bhim was comprehensively beaten by Yerulan Iskakov of Kazakhstan 0-7 0-6 in a bout that lasted a little over a minute, at the K D Jadhav Wrestling Stadium.
A delayed arrival for the bout did not help the Indian grappler in taking on a stronger Kazakh opponent. Bhim, who was relaxing after winning his first bout, came in running into the arena. He proved no match for Iskakov who rolled him thrice in the opening few seconds to win the first period by technical fall....
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11:58 PM, Apr 19, 2013
