Batirov captures wrestling gold

Adam Batirov (Monday) pulled off another remarkable feat at the Fifth edition of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, being held in Ashgabat, in Turkmenistan.

The 32-year-old Bahraini captured the men’s wrestling freestyle under-70kg weight category gold medal as the Kingdom of Bahrain wrapped up their participation at this 12-day games.
A well-deserved 8-4 win over host country’s Batyr Orazgylyjow gave Bahrain its third medal with 48 hours remaining for the games closing.
Bahrain’s other medals were both won in jiu jitsu through Ali Munfaredi and Ahmed Shebeeb, who took the men’s under-77kg gold and bronze, respectively on September 18.
Nine athletes spearheaded Bahrain in three sports disciplines – jiu jitsu, taekwondo and wrestling – in this 12-day games, which comes to a close tomorrow (Wednesday) at Ashgabat Olympic Stadium.
Facing a stiff challenge from nine other wrestlers, Batirov put on a superb show at the Martial Arts indoor arena to secure podium.
In his first bout, Batirov took on 21-year-old Daniel Heleta of American Samoa in the last 16 round. Heleta, who is a student of the American Samoa Community College, was hoping to put up some resistance against the more-experienced and talented Bahraini.
However, Batirov was in peak form and took a string of technical points in the first period to overcome the young Samoan wrestler 10-0 and advance into the quarter-finals played later in the day.
Batirov was full of hope in his quarter-final bout against 30-year-old Saeid Dadashpourikalaei of Iran, who reached the final eight after an easy 10-0 win over Zuzhen Gulomdzhon Sharipov of Tajikistan.
Batirov headed into this bout knowing he would face an even tougher task. The Iranian wrestler entered the competition as one of the top contenders, having won the 2007 Asian Championship in 2007 and the World Military championship in 2013.
Saeid showed overall strength in the first period and took four technical points to go up 4-0. Batirov made a solid comeback in the second period and scored four straight points to level the scores. The bout ended 4-4 and the jury declared Batirov winner by points.
Despite securing a place in the semi-finals and with it a bronze medal, Batirov entered his next bout against Malik Jan Sadeed of Afghanistan seeking a win to fight for the competition gold medal.
Both wrestlers fought well as the bout ended 0-0, but Batirov was announced winner 4-0 by technical superiority to punch his ticket into the weight category final.
In the gold medal bout, the Bahraini hopeful faced host country’s Batyr Orazgylyjow, who was dominant in all his previous fights in the competition. Batirov started the bout well against the 24-year-old Turkman, scoring six technical points in the first period, while his opponent could only score two.
In the second and deciding period, each wrestler added two more points to their credit and the difference remained unchanged, much to the joy of Batirov and the Bahrain delegation in Ashgabat, headed by Shaikh Faisal bin Rashid Al Khalifa

Source: Fana News