Triggering wild celebrations in stands—lending the sports its rural charm--thrice Commonwealth Champion Rajender Kumar (55kg) produced a supreme effort to outmuscle Pakistan’s Azhar Hussain to nail gold, India’s fourth and final in Greco-Roman. His compatriots Manoj Kumar whittled out silver while Sunil Kumar and Dharmender Dalal settled for bronze.
Reeling off on an aggressive note, with both wrestlers lunging and clutching each other, a back salto shot Rajender into lead. Hussain tried to get underneath him, but Rajender tilted himself and flipped him over the shoulders onto the mat, fetching him five points. He replicated this in the second round, which he buckled 6-0, despite a bleeding nose. On more than one occasion, he lost his balance, but warranting his experience, he held on and turned every calamity into opportunity.
But his compatriots weren’t as convincing. Nigerian Joe Agbonavbare clutched onto Manoj Kumar (84kg) like a crab, stifling him for movement. Though Sunil waged back pulling the second 2-0 after conceding the opening round 4-0, the Nigerian thrust himself upon him in the third. A flip, which landed both outside the zone, seemed to fetch Manoj three points, but the Nigerian coach protested and subsequently the referee and judges’ panel ruled it in Agbonavbare’s favour. The Nigerian went on to win 7-2, thus giving Nigeria their first-ever gold in wrestling.
Earlier, Sunil Kumar (66kg) surprisingly caved into eventual champion Miroslav Dykun of England in the semifinal. The latter pinned him in the second round to win by fall. However, he hammered Welshman Brett Hawthorne by a massive margin (14-0) for bronze in repechage. Dykun later claimed the gold, ousting Jack Bond in 40 seconds, again pinning him in the first round.
Impeded by cramps and injuries, Dharmender (120kg) couldn’t stand up to Russian-born Australian Ivan Popov. But Dharmender vented out all his disappointment against Varntan Aparian, whom he walloped 12-0 in repechage. Popov ruled the roost thrashing Nigerian Talaram Mamman. The imposing Popov celebrated it with a somersault, which quaked the mat to its edifice.