Two hit target after big miss

Wrestlers Yogeshwar,Amit win Olympic berths at Asian qualifying,Beijing medallist Sushil falters

It was supposed to be Sushil Kumars day. But on Friday,it was not the Olympic medallist but his akhada mates Amit Kumar (55kg) and Yogeshwar Dutt (66kg) who became the first two wrestlers from the freestyle team to book their berths at the London Olympics.

While Sushil failed to get past Kazakshtans Akzhurek Tanatarov in the semi-final,losing 1-3,Yogeshwar and Amit reached their respective finals at the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Astana,Kazakshtan. While Yogeshwar had to settle for silver,losing to Irans Masoud Mahmoud Esmaeil Poorjouybari 1-3 in the title clash,Amit went a step further to claim his maiden international gold at the senior level,easily defeating Japans Shinichi Yumoto (5-0) in the final.

However,it was not the final but the semi-final against Chinese Xiaobin Hong that was Amits biggest test in the competition. Hong,who had a significant height and reach advantage over the Indian,made things difficult for the youngster. The Chinese had a bigger reach but Amit held on and did not rush his attacking moves. It was a thorough job from him, India coach Yashvir told The Indian Express from Astana.

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The draw of luck also went in the favour of the 18-year-old. While there were only ten wrestlers in his weight category at the competition,he also got lucky with a bye in the first round. Japan,Mongolia and Tajikistan were on the other side of the draw and that helped a lot. But these things are not in our hands. He deserves all the credit for doing exactly what was expected of him,Yashvir added.

Confident of qualifying

In fact,so confident was Amit of his chances in the qualifying event that he had already planned to miss upcoming trials for the junior India team. He had told me in the morning about his plans to miss the trials. I guess he knew he had a big chance of qualifying today, the coach said.

It wasnt as easy for Yogeshwar,though,who was supposed to have the most difficult task in the competition. The experienced wrestler had to fight hard in each of his first three bouts before the final. I had beaten the Iranian wrestler at the Asian Championships in February. I was down on stamina in the final,but its OK since making the final was the main target for all of us, Dutt said.

Sushil took it easy

However,the same cannot be said of Sushil. After Fridays loss,sources close to the team have once again questioned the Beijing bronze medallists thought process during the semifinal,claiming he took it easy in the third period. Leading the bout 2-1,he thought he had won and took it easy. With only seconds to go in the bout,the Kazakh went all out on attack,which Sushil couldnt defend.

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Sushil,however,made amends later in the day to regain his composure and win the repechage bout against Chinas Erlanbieke Katai Ye 3-1 to settle for a bronze. This was the second missed opportunity for Sushil,who had last year failed to defend his World Championship title.

Other Indians in action in the competition,however,had a disappointing outing. Narsingh Yadav,who had lost his opening round bout to Uzbekistans Rashid Kurbanov,narrowly missed out on a bronze in the 74kg,losing the repechage to Chinas Chongyao Zhang 1-3. In the 84kg category,Pawan Kumar was beaten by Tajikistans Yusup Abdulasamov 0-3 while Mausam Khatri lost to Khuderbulga Dorjkhand of Mongolia to bow out early.

The Indian wrestlers who are yet to make the cut for the London Games have two more chances to do so at the qualifying events to be held in China from April 27-29 and in Finland from May 4-6.