Published>Fri, May 14 10 05:17 AM
What's the value of Rs 200 in today's times? For Beijing bronze winner Sushil Kumar, who got richer by crores after that feat in 2008, it might not be a lot. But tradition runs deep in this sport, where wrestlers cherish the token money they are given by the dangal-mad fans after each win. So on Thursday, Sushil bowed his head and, with folded hands, pocketed the notes given to him before stepping onto the winners' podium at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship. Moments earlier, he had outscored South Korean Kim Dae Sung in the 66kg freestyle final over two rounds to take the second gold for the hosts at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi.
The first period ended with neither player scoring a point and so the referee, to break the impasse, pulled out the red clinch to hand the Indian the upper hand. The next moment, Sushil had the Korean on the mat after getting a firm leg hold and with that, he had three points on the board. The Korean coach asked for a referral, which went against them, and Sushil's received a bonus point for his opponent's failed bid.
In the second period, Sushil scored two points in quick succession to seal India's second medal at the championships.
"This is a big boost to my confidence before important events like the world championship and the Commonwealth Games. It was a tough fight, but I was lucky to get the first grip and then I never looked back," Sushil said later.
Some bad news
But there was bad news for the other Indians, as Rahul Aware, Anuj Kumar and Rajiv Tomar couldn't even make it to the medal rounds. Tomar conceded his 120kg opening match against Uzbekistan's Mutalimov Marid after injuring his knee only seconds into the bout. With Marid making the final and taking the gold, a heavily strapped Tomar couldn't take advantage of the repechage entry and lost his bout to Iran's Mohammad Azars. Anuj lost in the second round of the 84kg category to China's Zhang Feng, while Aware lost to Lee Woo Ju of Korea in the second round of the 55kg.
Iran's Lashgari Ehsan defended his 84kg title, outclassing Semonov S from Kazakhstan, while Japan's Yomoto Shinichi bagged gold in the 55kg category as he beat Uzbek Kurbanov Nasibullo 1-0 and 1-0. Lee and Yang Gyong Ji of North Korea took bronze.
Source: Web Search
0 comments:
Post a Comment