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Dharmender keeps India's hopes alive
Indian grappler Dharmender Dalal lost his quarterfinal bout and will compete in the repechage round to keep India's bronze medal hopes alive in men's 120kg category Greco-Roman event of the Asian Games.
Indian grappler Dharmender Dalal lost his quarterfinal bout and will compete in the repechage round to keep India's bronze medal hopes alive in men's 120kg category Greco-Roman event of the Asian Games.
While Dharmender still has an outside chance of bagging a third place, his compatriot Vinod Kumar is not so lucky as he bowed out of the competition after being outplayed 3-0 by his opening round opponent Tsogtbaatar Damdinbazar of Mangolia.
Dharmender started the day on a high note when he got the better of Hirokazu Shinjo of Japan 3-1 in his opening round match to advance to the quarterfinals.
But the Indian wrestler came a cropper against Kazakhstan's Nurmakhan Tinaliyev, who proved to be too strong for him. Tinaliyev took 10 minutes and 58 seconds to register a 3-0 win against Dharmender.
Having failed to enter the last four stage, Dharmender will now face Chivinn Chum of Cambodia in Repechage round 1 bout later in the day and if he manages win it, he would face Iraq's Ali Salman.
A win against his Iraqi opponent would give him a chance to fight for the bronze medal against either Hani Marafi of Jordan or Murodjon Tuychiev of Tajikistan.
