New Delhi: India had a bad opening day as none of its grapplers won a gold medal on the first day of the the 1st Hari Ram Indian Grand Prix wrestling tournament. Even Narsingh Yadav who has qualified for the Olympics could not manage to bring glory to Indians.
India did manage to win two silver medals and one bronze in men's freestyle competitions. In the women's event, Kavita (48kg) and Rachna (55kg) lost in repechage rounds at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
In the final bout Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Narsingh lost 0-1 1-3 to Hosseinkhani from Iran.
Narsingh, got the first round bye and defeated Makarashvili of Georgia 1-0 7-1 to reach the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals he defeated Afghanistan's Musleh Ahmad 2-1 6-0. In the semis he defeated Mongolia’s Batchuluun 4-2 8-4.
In the 55kg Nitin lost the final match against Georgia's Gochashvili 1-0 0-1 0-1. He defeated Muradov of Azerbaijan 3-1 1-0, Pappu of Pakistan 5-0 and Vinod Kumar 1-1 2-1 to reach the final.
In the women’s category both Geeta and Babi have qualified for the London Olympics opted out of the competition.
Results:
Men: Freestyle
55kg: 1. Gochashvili (Geo), 2. Nitin (Ind), 3. Batbold (Mgl) and Vinod Kumar.
74kg: 1. Hosseinkhani (Iri), 2. Narsingh (Ind), Lee Yun Seok (Kor)
Women:
48kg: 1. Lee Yu Mi (Kor), 2. Anthony Victoria (USA), 3. Bayarmagnai (Mgl) and Balushka (Ukr).
55kg: 1. Erdenechimeg (Mgl), 2.Isbell (USA), 3. Edward (Ngr) and Ismagulova (Kaz).
