Defeating Korea’s Lee Seungchul by 6-2 in 65kg men’s freestyle category, Bajrang Punia became the first India to win gold in this year’s senior Asian Wrestling Championship.
In the opening half, Bajrang ended up giving two points to the opponent but later didn’t allow the rival take any point while took three himself. Bajrang was on the attack from that point and added three more points to seal the bout 6-2.
Advertisement
Bajrang, and Sarita Mor, were the two potential gold medallists, who were fighting for India. While Bajrang won a gold, Sarita lost to Kyrgyztan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova in the women’s 58 kg category and had to settle for Silver. For the tournament, Sarita went down two kilograms and Sakshi Malik took her place in the 60 kg category.
After beating the Uzbekistan’s Sirojiddin Hasanov by 4-3 in the qualifiers and the tournament’s defending champion Meisam Nassiri by 7-5, Bajrang came out as a winner and made his nation proud.
Advertisement
