Mongolian strip show fails to salvage Rio wrestling bronze

Rio de Janeiro (dpa) - Two Mongolian wrestling coaches stripped at the Rio Games on Sunday in protest at their wrestler Mandakhnaran Ganzorig losing a bronze medal on a refereeing decision.Ganzorig appeared to have secured a 7-6 win over Uzbekistan‘s Ikhtiyor Navruzov in the men‘s 65-kilogram category but started celebrating too early and refused to engage his opponent in the final seconds of the bout.Uzbekistan challenged the scoring of the tie and judges later awarded bronze to Navruzov.The Mongolian coaches responded by stripping in protest, one getting as far as his underpants before thinking better of the action."I was leading then he got two points; I didn‘t, but I also should have had a score," Navruzov said of the engagement that sparked Ganzorig‘s premature celebration. "And then he ran away from me. He ran in a circle. You cannot do that."He should have done something; stand there, do anything and it would have been OK. I never gave up. I fought until the very end."I really hoped that he would get a penalty because you cannot behave in this way. But in the end, it is all in God‘s hands. He is also a good athlete."Byambarenchin Bayaraa, one of the Mongolian coaches, claimed there was "a problem with the refereeing."The Mongolian wrestler won 7-6 and he lost because of this [decision]. This is the only time in history of wrestling with point penalty."Three million people in Mongolia waited for this bronze medal and now we have no medal."The 65kg category was won by Soslan Ramanov of Russia, while gold in the 97kg went to American Kyle Snyder.