Sushil-led wrestling team dominates with 3 gold medals

Two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar spearheaded a sparkling show as Indian grapplers dominated the wrestling arena with three gold medals after the shooters ended their campaign on a rousing note with five more podium finishes on sixth day of competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games here today.

With 10 medals, including three gold, this was India's best show in this edition of the mega-event.

Sushil expectedly bagged gold in men's 75kg freestyle category while Amit Kumar won the yellow metal in men's 57kg. In the women's section, Vinesh Phogat finished on top in 48kg at the SECC Hall.

Rajeev Tomar, however, had to settle for a silver in the men's 125 kg freestyle event after going down to Canada's Korey Jarvis 0-3 in the finals.

Late in the evening, Chandrakant Mali clinched the bronze medal in men's 94kg weightlifting to add to the country's overall tally in the sport in the ongoing edition.

Mali, who totalled 338, lifted 146kg, 150kg and 153kg in three attempts in snatch and and 183kg, 188kg and 194 kg in clean and jerk to finish third on the podium.

Earlier, Indian shooters continued to dominate the Barry Buddon Centre with the unassuming Sanjeev Rajput and Harpreet Singh clinching a silver medal each but there was heartbreak for Olympic silver winner Vijay Kumar.

Star marksman Gagan Narang had to be contend with a bronze while Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Lajja Gauswami, too, finished third on the podium, as the Indian shooting team finished with an impressive tally of 17 medals (4 9 4) from the Games.

The wrestlers though took the limelight away with their stunning show on the mat.

The 31-year-old Sushil asserted his class as he won all his four bouts of the day quite comfortably.

In the gold-medal bout against Qamar Abbas of Pakistan, Sushil had an easy outing. Even before one could blink, the contest was over as the Indian pinned down his rival to clinch the gold with a 8-0 scoreline in under two minutes.

In no time, Sushil raced to a 6-0 lead and added two more points to finish off the contest.

Amit Kumar defeated Ebikweminomo Welson of Nigeria 6-2 in his final bout. The 20-year-old Indian started off well and completely dominated the first round to post a comfortable 4-0 win.