The Hindu : Sport / Wrestling : Army Red retains overall title

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Friday, Oct 01, 2004

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Sport - Wrestling

Army Red retains overall title

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, SEPT. 30. Army Red retained the overall title in the 54th Services wrestling championship which concluded at the Eastern Naval Command Gymnasium here on Thursday.

After winning the Greco-Roman style crown on Tuesday with a tally of 25 points, Army Red won the freestyle title on Thursday for an overall tally of 51.

Navy retained the runner-up spot with a total of 39 points, followed by Army Green (33) and Air Force (17).

Army Red won five of the seven gold medals at stake in the freestyle, while Navy picked up the rest two. The holder's dominance was never threatened through out the championship though Navy started the freestyle campaign being only four points behind Army Red.

All the three finals in the morning session went the Army Red way when its matmen defeated their Army Green opponents, all by fall. Shyam Lal earned the first gold for Army Red defeating Ram Chander in the 55 kg, Balraj did the same to Ram Pravesh in the 74 kg final and Satish Kumar defeated Ghanshyam in the 96 kg final.

The afternoon session saw Navy clinching its first gold, in 60 kg final, thorugh Dharmender Singh who beat Army Red's Shri Om by points.

However, after the 66 kg final in which Army Red's Mahender beat Ajay Kumar of Air Force on points (incidentally the only medal won by the Air Force in the championship), Navy dropped to third position behind Army Green by one point in the points table. But B.K. Makhale won a hard-fought bout against Narender of Army Red to bring Navy back to second position.

The last bout of the championship, the super heavy category (96 kg plus) was another tough one in which Ambica Prasad (Army Red) prevailed over Sanjeev Kumar (Navy).

The Chief of Staff of ENC, Rear Admiral, R.P. Suthan, gave away the trophies and medals.

The results (finals of freestyle): 55 kg category: Shyam lal (Army Red) bt Ram Chander (Army Green) by fall. 60 kg: Dharmender Singh (Navy) bt Shri Om (AR) on points 4-1.

66 kg: Mahender (AR) bt Ajay Kumar (Air Force) 6-4. 74 kg: Balraj (AR) bt Ram Pravesh (AG) by fall. 84 kg: B.K. Makhale (Navy) bt Narender (AR0 6-4.

96 kg: Satish Kumar (AR) bt Ghanshyam (AG) by fall. Plus 96 kg: Ambica Prasad (AR0 bt Sanjeev Kumar (Navy) 2-1.

Points and medals position: 1. Army Red 51 points (Greco-Roman 25 points with five gold, one silver, one bronze; and freestyle 26 pts five gold, two silver and bronze nil), 2. Navy 39 pts (21 pts 2-3-2; 18 pts 2-1-2), 3. Army Green 33 pts (17 pts 0-3-4; 16 pts 0-3-3), 4. Air Force 17 pts (7 pts, 0-0-0; 10 pts 0-1-0).

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