Batirov last hope for Bahrain
Manama : Bahraini wrestler Adam Batirov is the last hope for the kingdom to win a medal today when he takes on American Samoan wrestler Daniel Heleta Misaalefua in the Men’s Freestyle 70kg and under category Round of 16 from 9am (Bahrain time) in the ongoing Fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Coached by Mahmud Magomedov, the former 32-year old European wrestling champion, will be hoping to land a third medal for Bahrain at the games.
Batirov will look to improve on his last major appearance at the Rio 2016 Olympics in the Freestyle 65kg and under category, where he lost in the Round of 16 to Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan.
In his final training session yesterday, Batirov met Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation president and Bahrain chef de mission Shaikh Faisal bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Bahrain Olympic Committee general secretary and chef de mission deputy Abdulrahman Askar and other delegation officials.
Shaikh Faisal greeted Batirov and had discussions on the latter’s programme and wished him the best of luck.
Batirov, made a name for himself in the world of martial arts, then progressed into the Rio Olympics last year after dominating the World Olympic Games qualifying tournament held in Mongolia.
His first major achievement for Bahrain was in 2016 when he took the 70kg weight category gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.
Bahrain’s Ali Monfaradi and Ahmed Shebeeb gave Bahrain some glory after winning the jiu jitsu men’s under-77kg gold and bronze, respectively on September 18.
While Abu Idris (69kg) and Ali Ibrahimi (85kg) missed out on medal glory.
Bahrain was also represented in taekwondo by Wala’a Al Doseri (57kg), Juwana Mohammed (62kg) and Jumana Mohammed (73kg) who also missed out on medals.
More than 6,000 athletes from 45 Asian nations, 19 from Oceania and a Refugee Olympic Team have been competing in 21 events at 15 venues at the Olympic Village Sports Complex and the first time a Central Asian nation has hosted this event.
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