SEM Shilimela’s participation in the Men’s 55kg Freestyle Wrestling competition at the Olympics came to an end when he lost 3-1 to Kyong Il Yang of North Korea in his second fight on Friday.
Shilimela had earlier lost 3-0 to eventual champion Dzhamal Otarsultanov from Russia. However, since the Russian made it through to the final, Shilimela got a second chance to fight for the bronze medal in the Repechage round.Shilimela gave a good account of himself but the North Korean’s speed and strength were evident as he took a 7-2 lead at the end of the first round.In the second round, Il Yong built up a 6-0 lead before the fight was stopped after a minute and 31 seconds.Earlier, Otarsultanov comfortably won the fight 3-0 on points after dominating against Shilimela from the start.Shilimela held his own in the first two-minute period when the Russian held a narrow 3-0 lead, but in the second period the Russian quickly took a 7-0 lead and the referee stopped the fight after 44 seconds.Afterwards Shilimela said that he had given his best but was beaten by a stronger and more experienced opponent.’Russia is a very strong wrestling nation and my opponent has won a couple of international championships already, so he is a very strong opponent. I hope that he is going to the final. I am still alive in the tournament and hope that I can compete again in the repechage round,’ he said.’I did the best I could, but had to wrestle one of the strongest opponents in that weight. In the Olympic Games experience counts, which I do not have yet. I think that I have to improve my strength in the future to get better results,’ Shilimela added.Otarsultanov rewarded the Russian selectors with Olympic gold when he took the 55kg freestyle title.Otarsultanov, a three-time European champion, was picked ahead of Viktor Lebedev after defeating the two-time world champion and followed that up with victory in the Olympic final over Vladimer Khinchegashvili of Georgia.Khinchegashvili, runner-up to Otarsultanov at last year’s European Championships in Dortmund and a double world junior champion, pushed the Russian hard with coaches of both wrestlers challenging the referee’s award of points.But the 25-year-old Otarsultanov ultimately won 3-1.
