By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
SYDNEY -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard walked into the Sydney Convention Centre yesterday with a Canadian wrestling pin on his lapel.
A gesture of solidarity between the two Commonwealth cousins? Who knows?
But his appearance may have provided some positive karma for Canadian grappler Daniel Igali of Surrey, B.C., who came out on top in a wild match with Amir Tavakolian of Iran.
Igali, a gold-medal contender for Canada in the 69-kilogram freestyle class, trailed the Iranian 2-1 heading into overtime (wrestlers need three points to win in regulation time) but tied the score 2-2 with a single-leg takedown.
'I WENT BALLISTIC'
When extra time was over, the match went to criteria and the victory was awarded to the Canadian on the virtue of the Iranian being warned for passivity twice. Igali was warned once. That sparked a mini riot in the Iranian corner, with loud screams and protests. Tavakolian screamed at a volunteer as he walked to the dressing room, while his coach screamed at him. The Canadians, meanwhile, breathed a sigh a relief as the world champion Igali advanced to the quarters today. He is three wins from a gold medal.
"He was tough," Igali said. "That's the way all the matches are going to be from now on."
The Canadian corner wasn't exactly in control throughout the contest. When Tavakolian was awarded a 1-0 lead to the start the second round after a clinch, Igali's coach Dave McKay took exception. Nobody is quite sure why the Iranian was given the point when he neither exposed Igali nor put him in a control position.
"I went ballistic," McKay said. "But you have to represent your position, because that influences the referees for later on. You can't sit back and be silent."
Igali, 26, meets Yosmany Sanchez of Cuba in the quarters.
SISSAOURI SOUR: The lights went out on Georgia-born Canadian Gia Sissaouri.
The silver medallist from the 1996 Olympics was a favourite for a medal, but as luck would have it, he drew 1998 world champion Alireza Dabir of Iran in the first round and lost 3-0.
Unlike some sports, there is no pre-competition seeding in Olympic wrestling and sometimes the two best wrestlers in a weight class meet in the early rounds. That's what happened yesterday in the 58-kg class.
Dabir, 23, wrestled conservatively and avoided any upper-body locks, taking away Sissaouri's strength -- throws.
"It's just very unfortunate because Gia's definitely one of the best in the world, one of the best in this Olympics, but now he has no chance to go forward," Canadian head coach Richard Deschatelets said.
To add insult to injury, Sissaouri's scheduled opponent in a subsequent classification bout, Talata Embalo of Guinea-Bissau, didn't show up. Sissaouri, a Montreal florist, won by walkover, but not having the chance to show his best form was a disappointment. The win over Embalo means squat.
"It's really disappointing because some good athletes end up with nothing," said Sissaouri, who was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the former Soviet Union.
'DISAPPOINTED'
"(The tournament) is not really set up a proper way. Since they changed that system a lot of world champions and even (Olympic) medallists don't do well. And I hope in the future they're going to change it so at least good athletes get another shot for the bronze-medal match and aren't disappointed after four years of work."
