By V. Krishnaswamy, IANS,
Beijing : India’s third and last wrestler Rajiv Tomer was eliminated in the fresstyle 120 kg heavyweight category of the discipline at the Olympic Games here Thursday.
Tomer, drawn to meet American first-timer Steve Mocco, lost the bout tamely in two periods and then with Mocco losing in the quarter-finals, the Indian’s hope of being drawn into the repechage rounds also ended.
Twenty six year old Mocco, a Pan American champion, won the first period 1-0 with a pushout and then added three points in the second period with takedowns to end the match there.
All wrestlers losing to either of the two eventual finalists are drawn into the repechage round, where they remain eligible for a bronze medal.
In his second match, Mocco defeated the hugely built Liang Lai of China 1-0, 3-0. But in the quarters, Bakhtiyar Akhmedov of Russia defeated Mocco in three periods 0-1, 1-0, 2-0.
With Akhmedov winning his semi-final and reaching the final beating Marid Mutalimov of Kazakhstan, Mocco got a reprieve into the repechage round.
Mocco will face the winner of the first repechage match between Bozhidar Boyadzhiev of Bulgaria and Fardin Masoumi of Iran. If he wins that match, he moves onto a bronze medal match with Mutalimov.
India got a bronze in the freestyle (66 kg) through Sushil Kumar Wednesday, while the other wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt lost early in the 60 kg category Tuesday.