Asian Wrestling Championships: Sumit bags silver to end India's campaign on a high

New Delhi: India ended its successful campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships with a silver medal as Sumit went down to Yadollah Mohammadkazem Mohebi of Iran in men's 125kg freestyle gold medal bout on the final day of the competition, here on Sunday.

The Indian wrestlers finished with 10 medals, including a gold, five silver and four bronze, bettering their tally of nine medals in the last edition of the Asian Championship at Bangkok, Thailand.

In men's freestyle category, Iran defended their title, while Japan and Uzbekistan finished second and third respectively.

Sumit, making a comeback to the international circuit after seven months having recovered from a back surgery, could not pose much threat to his formidable Iranian opponent in his gold medal round, losing 2-6 to settle for the second position.

After conceding a point, the Indian grappler was quick to pull two points back by overpowering his opponent and throwing him out of the mat.

The Indian once again managed to grab the Iranian leg but failed to capitalise on the advantage as Mohebi push Sumit down on the mat to bag two points before finishing off the opening round with two more to lead 5-2 at the break.

In the second half, the Iranian gained one more point even as Sumit failed to make a comeback and lost out on a gold medal.

"Yes, it was difficult to make a comeback initially after the surgery but I practiced hard and did not face any problem fighting here," said the 24-year-old Indian.

The heavyweight grappler, who trains under India's double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar in Chhatrasal Stadium, said: "I benefit a lot by training with Sushil. He has great technique and I have learnt a lot under him despite the weight difference in his and my category."

Earlier, Sumit showed his mettle on his way to the final as he faced little difficulty in overcoming his opponents during the quarterfinal and semifinal bouts.

In his first bout of the day, Sumit beat Taiki Yamamoto of Japan 6-3 in the quarters and then outplayed Farkhod Anakulov of Tajikistan 7-2 in the semifinal to reach the gold medal round with consummate ease.

However, all the other Indian freestyle wrestlers in the fray today -- Harphool (61kg), Vinod Kumar Omprakash (70kg) and Somveer (86kg) -- bowed out early.

Harphool went down fighting 6-7 to Rei Higuchi of Japan in the quarterfinal round to crash out of the tournament.

The Indian wrestler though did well during his qualification bout, thrashing Divoshan Charles Fernando of Sri Lanka 11-0.

Vinod Kumar Omprakash lost to Japan's Momojiro Nakamura in the quarterfinal of men's 70kg.

Somveer bowed out of the competition after he was handed a 0-11 defeat by Gwanuk Kim of Korea in his qualification bout.