Asiad medals elude Indian grapplers Tuesday

Indian grapplers returned empty handed Tuesday at the Asian Games as Krishankant Yadav lost his men’s greco-roman (71 kg) category bronze medal match while two compatriots — Ravinder Singh and Harpreet Singh — also bowed out of competition at the Dowon Gymnasium here.

Yadav lost 0-3 to Iran’s Saeid Abdvali on technical points — the loser without points — after conceding a 0-4 lead in the first period and losing the second period 0-2.

Earlier, he lost 0-4 to South Korea’s Jihyun Jung in the quarter-finals. Yadav was beaten on the basis of greater superiority of his opponent.

The match was stopped after one minute and 52 seconds as Jung amassed a difference of eight points with Yadav failing to win a single point.

In the men’s greco-roman 59 kg quarter-final, Ravinder was beaten by Kazakhstan’s Almat Kebispayev 0-3 on the basis of technical points. Ravinder trailed 0-1 after the first period and both wrestlers didn’t score a single point in the second period.

To add to India’s disappointment, Harpreet also went down in the men’s greco-Roman 80 kg last-eight match to Uzbekistan’s Besiki Saldadze. He lost 1-3 on technical points.

Harpreet made a great start to the bout, clinching the first period 2-0 but failed to keep the momentum, losing the second quarter 0-4 to surrender the tie.

(IANS)