‘Big guns’ meet in wrestling

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33446, 30 January 1974, Page 18

‘Big guns’ meet in wrestling

Sy

J. O. COFFEY)

The first skirmishes in the eagerlyawaited wrestling clash between the Canadian and Indian squads were fought in the Town Hall auditorium last evening, the outcome being the near certainty of a gold medal to each country.

Mitchell Kawasaki assured himself of the 18kg title when he took a decisive early lead and then held on gamely throughout a tense final few minutes to heat a 17-year-old Indian. Radley Shyan, by 10 points to 9.

Kawasaki had already achieved a similar result over Walter Koenig (Australia), the only other entrant in the lightest of the 10 divisions, and is now unbeatable. It remains for Koenig and Shyan to grapple for the minor medals.

The ledger was balanced a few minutes later when Sudesh Kumar (India) completely outclassed the Canadian, Gordon Bertie, who was regarded as the one obstacle that Kumar would have to clear from his path to a second consecutive Commonwealth 52kg championship.

Kumar, whose fourth at the Munich Olympic tournament was two placings better than that of Bertie, quickly established a points lead and steadily opened it to 19-5. He will meet John Navie (Australia) in the final round, but should have little difficulty keeping his perfect score. McMahon out

■ | The New Zealand repre--1 sentative in this class. Bruce i McMahon, lost an excellent : chance of a bronze medal when he conceded a fall to ■ Navie after Imin 57sec of the third round, and was eliminated. McMahon had been ahead on points in the I early stages, retrieving his advantage twice when Navie had drawn level, and McMahon was still in front, 10-7, at the premature finish.; i Andrew Roach, in the 62kg section, was the other New) ! Zealander to drop out last i i night, in similar fashion to McMahon. Roach met another Australian, Ray Brown, and appeared likely to emerge with a points victory: ; until Brown, a veteran of more than a decade of interstate wrestling, graduallv wrested a 5-4 points superiority during 9min of even combat. ! The result increased Roach’s penalty points tally to the cut-off limit of six. Egon Beiler (Canada) continued to dominate the class by taking a fall from Paul Toole (England) and, inevitably, will clash with an Indian, Shivaji Chingee, in the final this evening. Chingee had the bye in the second round. Harsh iesson A lesson in the harsh L realities of international I, competition was given to the! New Zealander in the 68kg L division, Paul Dailey, by a Canadian with his sights t fixed firmly at the gold j medal, Stephen Martin. The encouraging points win that

j Dailey had gamed in his b< it with Reg Marsh (Australia) on Monday was contrasted by the 0-17 defeat that he suffered at Martin's hands ’ Dallev has now conceded five penalty points and will continue on to the ition series this morning, but it would be a surprise if he (improved on his present fourth placing. Martin, Jag ,rup Singh (India) and Joes Gilligan (England) have (a mortgage on the medals (Marsh and Thomas Anderson (Scotland) have fallen by tht wayside. Two other New Zealanders who will be required for life eliminations, Gordon Mackav (74kg) and Barry Oldridgc (57kg), drew byes last evening.