Asian Wrestling Championships: Gurpreet, Sandeep lose bronze bouts

Almaty, April 13

India’s Gurpreet Singh and Sandeep lost their bronze medal bouts in the Greco-Roman section on the opening day of the Asian Wrestling Championships here today.

In the 77kg semifinal bout, Singh lost 0-5 to Kairatbek Tugolbaev of Kazakhstan, while Sandeep went down fighting to Nurmukhammet Abdullaev of Kyrgyzstan 5-11 in the 55 kg semifinal.

The biggest setback for the Indian team came in the 87kg category, in which defending champion Sunil Kumar lost his opening bout to World Championships bronze-medallist Rustam Assakalov of Uzbekistan.

On the disappointing performance, chief coach Hargobind Singh said that the contests were close. “The competition is tough. Our wrestlers tried their best but weren’t able to click at the right moment,” he said. — IANS