New Delhi: India had a disappointing day in office as none of its grapplers, including Olympic-bound Narsingh Yadav (74kg), could manage to win a gold medal on the opening day of the inaugural Hari Ram Indian Grand Prix wrestling tournament, here on Friday.
India won two silver medals and a bronze in men`s freestyle competitions while in the women`s event, Kavita (48kg) and Rachna (55kg) lost in repechage rounds at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Narsingh lost 0-1 1-3 in a closely-fought final bout against Hosseinkhani of Iran. The Iranian showed better skills and counter-attacks to defeat the home favourite wrestler.
Narsingh, who got the first round bye, defeated Makarashvili of Georgia 1-0 7-1 to reach the quarterfinals while in the last-eight, he ended the challenge of Afghanistan`s Musleh Ahmad 2-1 6-0.
In the semifinals, Narsingh got the better of Batchuluun of Mongolia 4-2 8-4.
In the 55kg final, Nitin lost to Georgia`s Gochashvili 1-0 0-1 0-1 in a keen contest. The Indian defeated Muradov of Azerbaijan 3-1 1-0, Pappu of Pakistan 5-0 and compatriot Vinod Kumar 1-1 2-1 on his way to the final.
In the women`s section, Olympic-bound Geeta (55kg) opted out of the competition while her sister Babita (48kg) pulled out of the event due to an injury.
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).
PTI
First Published: Friday, May 25, 2012, 22:52