New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS): The Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) wrestlers on Sunday won the team title with 190 points at the National Greco Roman Championships in Jalandhar. Their arch rivals, the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB), finished second with 170 points while host Punjab was third with 111 points.
The most exciting bout of Sunday was the 97kg semifinals in which Ravi of the Railways upset Olympian and home favourite Hardeep Singh. Singh had to be content with bronze.
Ravi set up the title clash with Deepanshu of SSCB, and fought hard in the final but his opponent proved too good and clinched gold while Ravi had to settle for silver.
Narender Cheema, another wrestler from the home team, took the second bronze.
The 77kg bout, however, went on expected lines, as defending champion Gurpreet Singh from Punjab faced no opposition from his rivals, including Sajan Bhanwala of RSPB, to retain his title. Mohammed Rafeeq of SSCB was second while Bhanwala and Manjeet of SSCB were the two bronze medallists.
Asian 87kg champion Sunil Kumar, representing Railways, too had an easy day. He won gold with comfortable ease. Prabhpal Singh of Punjab cinched silver while Amit of RSPB and Ravinder Khatri of SSCB won the bronze medals.
The top four wrestlers in each of the weight categories will attend the national preparatory camp for the Asian Olympic qualifiers in April. The camp will be organised at the Sports Authority of India campus in Sonepat from next week.
Results:
63kg: Gold: Neeraj (Delhi); Silver: Govind (Maharashtra); Bronze: M. Taibanganba (SSCB) and Rajeet (SSCB).
72kg: Gold: Kuldeep Malik (RSPB) ); Silver: Sameer (Maharashtra); Bronze: Amit (RSPB) and Vikas (Haryana).
77kg: Gold: Gurpreet Singh (Punjab); Silver: Mohammed Rafeeq (SSCB); Bronze: Sajan Bhanwala (RSPB) and Manjeet (SSCB).
87kg: Gold: Sunil Kumar (RSPB) ); Silver: Prabhpal Singh (Punjab); Bronze: Amit (RSPB) and Ravinder Khatri (SSCB).
97kg: Gold: Deepanshu (SSCB); Silver: Ravi (RSPB); Bronze: Hardeep Singh (RSPB) and Narender Cheema (Punjab).