Neeraj takes 82kg Greco-Roman gold

Special Correspondent

KOCHI

After downing Services’ Parveen in a close thriller to take the 82kg Greco-Roman gold in the National under-23 wrestling championship, international Neeraj did the vanishing act at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium here on Saturday.

He skipped the medal ceremony and the dope test. His coaches were summoned and asked for an explanation. And when they said that Neeraj’s phone was switched off, they were asked to wait. That put pressure on the wrestler and his coaches.

Maharashtra international Ravi Raj had done a similar vanishing act a day earlier, after winning the men’s 74kg freestyle title.

“Ravi Raj turned up last night and gave his dope test. Even Neeraj came later and gave his dope test today. Now we will have to wait and see what the dope test result shows and then act,” V.N. Prasood, secretary, Wrestling Federation of India, told The Hindu on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Haryana led the points table in the men’s freestyle and women’s event at the end of the championship’s penultimate day while Delhi was on top of the pack in the Greco-Roman.

The results (finals):

Men: Greco-Roman: 55kg: Rupin (Har) bt Laishram (SSCB) by points.; 67kg: Vinayak (Mah) bt Anuj (Del) by technical superiority; 82kg: Neeraj (Del) bt Parveen (SSCB) by tech sup; 130kg: Parvesh (Har) bt Deepanshu (Del) by tech sup.

Freestyle: 57kg: Rahul (Del) bt Suraj (Mah) by fall; 65kg: Anuj (Har) bt Jaskaran (Pun) by points; 79kg: Anuj Tomar (UP) bt Chander (Har) by points; 97kg: Sahil (Pun) bt Pardeep (Har) by tech sup.

Women: 53kg: Pooja (Har) bt Manshi (UP) by fall.; 59kg: Mansi (Har) bt Manisha (Raj) by tech sup; 68kg: Radhika (Har) bt Pratiksha (Mah) by tech sup.; 72kg: Sunita (Har) bt Laxmi (UP) by fall.