“One gold, one silver, four bronze,” Indian women’s team Georgian coach Roein Dobo had said while predicting his wards’ medals tally on the eve of the 26th Senior Asian Wrestling Championships. The Indian women’s squad did not exactly live up to that prophesy, but they did well enough.
While Navjot Kaur got the silver medal in the women’s 67 kg category, Geetika Jakhar (63 kg) and Jyoti (72 kg) clinched bronze in their respective categories at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium here on Sunday. Of the four Indian eves in action on the fourth day of the continental event, only Geeta Phogat (59 kg) did manage a medal.
The Indian men’s squad also had cause for celebration with Hitender wining a bronze in the men’s 120 kg category on Sunday. The Indian men now have a total of one gold and two bronze, while the women’s tally reads one silver and four bronze medals.
Navjot , who earned a bye in the opening round, defeated Ham Hyekyung of South Korea 1-0, 2-1 in the semifinal before facing N Ochirbat of Mongolia in the clash for the gold medal.
But the experienced Mongolian was too superior in terms of technique, easily wrapping up the bout 1-0, 2-5 to the disappointment of the extremely vocal Indian crowd.
Both wrestlers were a bit cautious in the opening minute of the first round before Navjot tried to force the initiative with an attempted takedown which was easily fended off by Ochirbat. The first round was quite evenly matched with a successful tackle to the legs by the Mongolian towards the end proving to be the only difference.
But the second round was a totally one-sided affair as the Mongolian came out all guns blazing, clinching five points in the opening minute by first bringing Navjot down with a leg hold and then turning her easily.
Although Navjot fought back towards the end and clinched a couple of points in the last 30 seconds, it proved to be a case of too little, too late.
“I was feeling nervous ahead of the bout. I wanted to win gold medal in front of my home crowd,” Navjot said after the bout. “The same opponent had thrashed me in the World Cup in March this year. I am happy that I made a match out of it.”
Geetika, who also got a bye in the first round, registered a thumping 1-0, 4-1 win over Olga Kalininna of Kazakhstan to enter the semifinals where she went down to eventual gold medalist Zhuoma Xiluo of China. She went on to outclass Thailand’s Wilawan Thongkam in the bronze medal play-off, pinning her opponent to the mat to clinch victory in the very first round.
India’s 72kg women wrestler, Jyoti came from behind to triumph over Elmira Syzdykova of Kazakhstan and finish on the podium. She lost the opening period 1-4 but won the next two 4-0, 1-0.
“I am happy, but they could have got a gold medal,” Dobo told The Pioneer. “Geeta had a hamstring injury. Otherwise she would also have won a medal.”
In the men’s 120kg freestyle competition, Hitender had an impressive start with a strong performance against Aslonbek Gadoyev of Uzbekistan. The burly Indian, who got a bye in the opening round, was too strong for his opponent, winning the lopsided contest 6-0, 3-0.
Hitender was making his international debut at the senior level and he was let down by lack of experience in the semifinal which he conceded 0-3, 1-2 to C Jargalsaikhan of Mongolia. The Delhi lad has a tendency to rely too much on his raw physical strength which the technically adept Mongolian used to his advantage.
Hitender made up for that disappointment by pinning Kazakhstan’s Dmitry Popov in the first round of the bronze medal bout. Popov drew first blood with a counter but the Indian’s superior strength enabled him to make a strong comeback and he made his opponent’s shoulder blades touch the mat to seal the contest ‘by fall’.