WRESTLING: Australia’s sole wrestling representative Farzad Tarash was today defeated 3-0, 5-0 by the People’s Republic of Korea’s Jong Myong RI at ExCeL in East London’s Royal Victoria Dock.

The Melbourne based wrestler competed in the men’s freestyle 60kg competition and  wrestled bravely but was unable to score any points against the experienced North Korean who finished third at the Asian Championships.

In the first round the North Korean was able to get behind Tarash and flip and push the Australian off the mat to score the three points. In the second round the points were for a throw and for again enabling RI to get behind him.

“Obviously it wasn’t the best draw, I knew him from previous competitions, he qualified first for the Olympic qualification so I knew that it was always going to be tough and I was hoping for an upset,” said Tarash.

“I went out there and tried my best but it was obviously not good enough. It is disappointing to get knocked out but he is a world class wrestler”.
Whilst disappointed with the result Tarash could see the positives and vowed to learn from the experience.

“I was aiming to take him out of control and basically wrestle the way that I wrestle and hope for a good result so I am a little bit disappointed but it is all experience for me and a good learning curve,” he said.

“It has been months of training and preparation but for the other guys wrestling is basically their full-time job.

“We have to have a full-time job and do this more like a hobby so I think we have done really well as a team to even go to the Olympic qualification.

“I am really proud of what I have achieved over the past few months to be the only Australian to qualify,” Tarash added.

Jo Banning in London
olympics.com.au