Nagoya, Oct 2:
Nitesh Siwach came within one victory of creating history for Indian Greco-Roman wrestling but had to settle for silver after losing to Japan’s Yuri Nakazato in the men’s 97kg final at the Asian Games on Thursday.
Nitesh went down 0-4 in the gold-medal bout after Nakazato produced a disciplined defensive performance and capitalised on his opportunities. The Japanese wrestler opened the scoring by pushing Nitesh out and later used a takedown to extend his advantage.
Nitesh had defended well during the first half, preventing Nakazato from finding the grip needed for a gut wrench. But he could not create a scoring opportunity of his own and went into the interval 0-2 down.
Nakazato continued to frustrate him after the restart. A push left Nitesh off balance and the Japanese converted the opening into a takedown to make it 4-0. Nitesh was forced to attack as the clock ran down, but Nakazato’s defence held firm.
The silver nevertheless represented a major achievement. India had not won a Greco-Roman gold at the Asian Games since 1962, when Malwa Singh won the 52kg title and Ganpat Andalkar claimed gold in the +97kg category. Before Nitesh’s campaign, India had won only four bronze medals in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Games.
Nitesh had stormed into the final with two impressive victories. He defeated Turkmenistan’s Amanberdi Agamammedov 7-1 in the quarter-finals before producing an even more dominant performance against Mongolia’s Gankhuyang Ganbaatar in the semi-finals.
The Asian Championship silver medallist won that bout 9-0 by technical superiority, finishing it inside the opening three minutes. He produced two four-point throws from the ground position to book his place in the final and guarantee India its best-ever Asian Games finish in the 97kg category.