Sumit, Vinesh win CWG titles (Wrestling Roundup)

Indian wrestlers did the nation proud as Sumit Malik won the 125 kilogram freestyle title while Vinesh Phogat took women's 50kg gold at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Sumit won all his four bouts in the Nordic (round robin) format to emerge champion. Korey Jarvis of Canada got the silver while Pakistan's Tayab Raza took the bronze.

Among the women, Vinesh won gold in the 50kg competition as she ended at the top of the standings at the end of the Nordic format.

Vinesh defeated Miesinnei Genesis of Nigeria, Rupinder Kaur of Australia and Canada's Jessica MacDonald.

India got another medal when Somveer bagged bronze in the men's 86kg division. Somveer defeated Alexander Moore of Canada 7-3 in the play-off for the bronze medal.

Rio Olympics medallist Sakshi Malik took the bronze medal in the women's 62kg category.

Sumit had started his campaign with a victory over Cameroon's Claude Mbianga who had to pull out of the bout due to an injury. Mbianga had picked up the injury during his previous bout against Jarvis.

The Indian beat Jarvis in his second bout. It was an absorbing contest between two wrestlers who matched each other in both strength and technique.

The Canadian took the first point with a push-out which gave him a 1-0 lead at the break. The contest came alive in the second round as both wrestlers picked up the tempo.

The Indian displayed impressive strength and technique to take the lead with a two-point takedown before pulling off a four-point move.

Although Jarvis picked up three more points in the second period, it did not prove to be enough.

Sumit then thrashed Raza 10-4 to keep himself on track for the gold medal. Sumit was gifted a walkover by Sinivie Boltic of Nigeria in his last bout which handed him the title.

Meanwhile, Vinesh beat off a tough challenge from Genesis to win her opening bout 6-5. She had taken a 4-1 lead at the break. But the Nigerian staged a strong comeback by picking up four points in the second round.

The Haryana wrestler then outclassed Kaur by technical superiority to become the top contender for the gold. Vinesh had taken a 10-0 lead by the middle of the first round.

She had another easy outing against Jessica, taking a 13-3 lead in the second period which gave her a victory by technical superiority and the gold.

In the men's 86kg competition, Somveer had started his campaign with a comfortable victory over Taebontangaroa Kookoo of Kiribati in the first round.

Somveer had taken a 4-0 lead in the opening round of that bout before pinning his opponent to the mat to win by fall.

He then crashed out of gold medal contention after losing to Pakistan's Muhammed Inam in the quarter-finals.

Somveer lost by technical superiority as his opponent built up a 10-0 lead in the first round.

Meanwhile, Sakshi defeated Cameroon's Berthe Emillene in her first match before losing to Michelle Fazzari of Canada.

Another loss to Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria ended her chances of winning the gold medal.

A hard earned 6-5 win over New Zealand's Tayla Ford saw her finish with the bronze.

--IANS

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