One gold a day, keeps the Indian flag flying

Mann defeated Iranian Khaleghi Farmh 5-4 in the 97kg freestyle event. But the luck ran out of other Indians in the fray. However, Shokinder Tomar had something to cheer about in spite of going down to R. Ghorbani of Iran to collect the silver.

Mann, a gold-medallist at the World Cadet Wrestling at the same venue three years ago and a bronze at Teheran last year in the Asian Junior meet, was in full form today. He wore a determined look as he went up to the dias to shake hands with his opponent. But the Iranian struck rhythm instantly to take the first points. The Delhi boy, never to loose his cool, started employing the tricks his guru Satpal had taught him at the Chhattrasal Stadium akhara.

And it paid dividends, for Mann led 4-3 at the end of the first three minutes. As expected, the latter half turned out to be more fierce with the Iranian offering resistance. So much so, the two grappled for points which came in a trickle. As the clock ticked away, the Iranian logged a point and equalled the score. Enter the last minute, Mann flipped his opponent and holding him for 10 seconds pinned down to the mat for the winning point.

Earlier, 0-3 down Tomar fought hard to pull abreast with the Iranian. But his opponent was much more quick and aggressive enough not to allow Tomar any advantage. Finally, Tomar went down fighting 4-6 to pick the silver.

Meanwhile, the Indian camp registered a protest after Paramveer’s match in the 85kg Greco-Roman category in which the referee wrongly awarded points to his opponent. The protest was upheld and the match will be re-played tomorrow.

RESULTS: ALL FINALS (Freestyle): 54kg: Mansurov (Uzb) gold bt Tugan (Kgz) silver 3-1; Serikbaer Aset (Kaz) bronze bt Baglarbagi (Iran) 12-1/tech fall; 63kg: R Ghorbani (Iran) gold bt Shokinder Tomar (Ind) silver 6-4; Inoue Shin Che (Jap) bronze w/o EM Lasantha (Sri); 76kg: H Tatari (Ir) gold) bt Nagashima (Jpn) silver 4-1; A. Erueshou (Kgz) bronze bt S. Osmoinov 14-3/tech fall; 97kg: Anil Mann (Ind) gold bt Khaleghi Farmh (Iran) silver by fall; Kim Sang Min (Kor) bronze bt Yoshida Hidetoshi (Jpn) 5-1

INDIANS IN ROUND-ROBIN: FREESTYLE: Men: 54kg: Tuganbaidev (Kgz) bt Krishan Kumar 7-2; Baglar Bagi (Irn) bt Kishan Kumar; 63kg: Shokinder Tomar bt Alam Saiful (Ban) by fall; 76kg: Jang Bahadur bt Linchenfeng (Tpe) 8-0; 97kg: Anil Mann bt Khalid Abdullah (Qat) conceded; Krishan Kumar bt Veropol (Thai) by fall

Women: 50kg: Kaowei (Tpe) bt Ngang Bani Bech by fall; Hattoj (Jpn) bt Ngang Bani Bech by fall

GRECO-ROMAN: 50kg: Verandra bt Kousheng Pin (Tpe) 11-0/tech fall; Shiri Jamshed (Irn) bt Verendra 4-2; 85kg: Paramveer bt Kurimatra Masaru (Jpn) 3-1; 58kg: Ravinder Singh bt Mohamai Sayed (Qat) 10-0/tech fall; 69kg: Bijender bt Akhmedv Nurzman (Kaz) 4-1; 130kg: Satish Kumar bt Ramazanov Suleman (Uzb) 11-0/tech fall