Harpal Singh Bedi in Jakarta
India failed to break the jinx in the Greco Roman wrestling as all the grapplers in this section failed to win any medal in the Asian Games here on Wednesday
Country ‘s lone medal hope Harpreet, competing in 87kg, lost 3-6 to Kazakhstan’s Azamat Kustubayev in a bout in which umpiring did raise a few questions.
Harpreet was India’s lone medal hope after Gurpreet Singh (77kg), Naveen (130kg) and Hardeep (97) failed to reach the medal round.
Harpreet was given passivity warning when he seemed to be more aggressive than his opponent. “I was on the move and I should have gone that passivity point,” said Harpreet, whose original category is 82kg.
Indian coaches cried foul, saying Harpreet has been made to lose.“The Kazakh wrestler has not won but our wrester has been defeated,” .
However, National Greco Roman coach Kuldeep Singh said Harpreet should not have conceded point on lift. “There may be issues with regards to officiating but he should not have conceded that lift from ground position. He has never done that in his career and now at this big stage, it was not expected,” lamented.
WFI secretary VM Prasood said if Harpreet was leading the bout, they would have protested against referee decision.
The WFI though is satisfied with two gold medals. “Last Games, we won just one gold. This time we have two gold and a record that Vinesh is first Indian woman to win at Asian Games. These wrestlers have improved a lot from the last Games in Incheon,” Prasood said.
On three of four days, Indian wrestlers won medals but could not better their performance at Incheon Games, where they had won five medals.