India produce strong performance at Asian junior wrestling

Indian wrestlers bagged two gold medals on the final day to finish the 2018 Asian Junior Championships on a high note here on Sunday.

In men's freestyle, Deepak Punia emerged champion in the 86 kilogram category while Sachin Rathi won gold in the 74kg freestyle division.

Meanwhile Suraj Kokate (61kg) and Mohit (125kg) ended up with bronze medals in their respective categories.

Sachin defeated Byambasuren Bat-Erdene of Mongolia in the final. The Mongolian dominated the opening stages and went into the break with a comfortable 5-2 lead.

Byambasuren bolstered his advantage to 9-2 shortly after the resumption with a takedown and a couple of leg holds.

However, the Indian fought back to stage a superb comeback in the final minute to clinch the gold medal.

Later, Deepak defeated Azat Gajyyev of Turkmenistan to win the second gold for India.

Punia dominated right from the start and opened up a formidable 7-0 lead going into the break. He increased his led to 10-0 in the second round to win by technical superiority.

Iran consolidated their position as the superpower of Asian wrestling with two gold medals on the final day. They built up a total haul of eleven medals and took the first place with 189 points. India were second with 173 points while Uzbekistan scored 128 to finish third.

--IANS

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