Bahrain’s Adam Batirov yesterday captured the men’s wrestling freestyle under-70kg gold medal at the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
The 32-year-old sealed a well-deserved 8-4 win over the host country’s Batyr Orazgylyjow as Bahrain wrapped up their participation at the 12-day games with three medals.
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.
Nine athletes spearheaded Bahrain in three disciplines – jiu jitsu, taekwondo and wrestling – in the games, which conclude tomorrow 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 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 held later in the day.
Batirov Batirov headed for the quarter-final bout knowing he would face an even tougher task against 30-year-old Saeid Dadashpourikalaei of Iran, who reached the final eight after a 10-0 win over Zuzhen Gulomdzhon Sharipov of Tajikistan. The Iranian wrestler was one of the top contenders, having won the 2007 Asian Championship in 2007 and the World Military championship in 2013.
Comeback
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.
Batirov’s semi-final opponent was Malik Jan Sadeed of Afghanistan. Both wrestlers fought well to end the bout 0-0, but Batirov was announced 4-0 winner for technical superiority to punch his ticket into the final.
In the gold medal bout, the Bahraini faced host country’s Batyr Orazgylyjow, who had been 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.