Tormented by Rajender Kumar's swiftness and guile in the opening minutes of their clash, Pakistan's Azhar Hussain's street-fighter instincts began to come to the fore.
Tormented by Rajender Kumar's swiftness and guile in the opening minutes of their clash, Pakistan's Azhar Hussain's street-fighter instincts began to come to the fore.
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| On top of the world: Rajender Kumar waves the Indian flag after defeating Pakistan's Hussain Azhar in the 55kg wrestling men's final at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex in New Delhi yesterday. Pic/AFP |
So much so that one of Hussain's spiteful blows forced blood to trickle down Kumar's nose. It was a scene out of a typical Bollywood flick. But much like our masala action movies, the hero (Kumar) kept his nerve and gave it right back to the villain (Hussain), albeit in a far technical manner.
Eventually, the calm and composed Kumar went on to win a gold medal in the 55kg Greco-Roman wrestling bout against Hussain without conceding a point. He triumphed 11-0 in what could be termed as a one-sided affair.u00a0u00a0
"His technique wasn't the best and he was throwing his arms around. It was certainly dangerous, but according to me, it wasn't (hitting Rajender on the nose) deliberate. It happens in this sport. It is a tough sport after all," said India coach Hargobind Singh.
The man, who demolished his opponents on the way to winning the gold medal, did not come up with a dramatic reaction. "The reason for all my bouts turning out to be one-sided is because of our preparation. I had minutely rehearsed the Greco-Roman style with my coach and we were pretty confident of a good showing," said Kumar.
Kumar in the earlier rounds had defeated Sri Lanka's Kumara Yaparathna 14-0 and also outclassed Canada's Promise Mwenga 11-0 in the semi-final.
Style differenceHussain, meanwhile, confessed that all Pakistan's wrestlers specialised in the freestyle category and had very little knowledge of the Greco-Roman style. But the whole contingent participated to try their luck.u00a0 "I performed extremely well considering we are still coming to terms with the Greco-Roman style," said Hussain.
Other medal winners for India were Manoj Kumar, who won silver in the 84kg category, Sunil Kumar and Dharmender Dalal, who clinched bronze medals in the 66kg and the 120kg categories respectively.
In the three days of competition, the massive Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games seems to be on the right track to finish among the top three medal winning nations.
And Indian wrestlers certainly look to be the ones to contribute generously towards this goal.
