Indian wrestlers win 6 gold in U-15 Asian C'ships

Indian wrestlers continued to shine at the Under-15 Asian Championships in Taichung, Chinese Taipei, as they bagged six gold medals on Saturday.

Led by 2019 cadet world champion Komal (39kg), the gold rush ensured that the Indian contingent now has a total of eight gold medals after beginning their campaign with a couple of gold on Friday.

While Komal, one of the fastest-rising Indian wrestling stars, lived up to the expectations, the other girls also impressed with both Saloni (33kg) and Babli (36kg) performing brilliantly to finish on the top podium.

All the three girls gave dominating display to stay undefeated in their respective categories.

The exploits of Indian freestyle wrestlers continued on Day 2 also as Akash performed brilliantly to beat Daiki Ogawa of Japan in the 48kg category. Akash's quick reflexes did not give any chance to the Japanese in the bout, as the Indian emerged 8-3 victorious.

Debutant Udit Kumar brought home a silver in 57kg to add to the bronze he won earlier in the year at the Cadet World Championships.

With Kapil too winning a bronze medal in 52kg, all the six Indian freestyle wrestlers in the squad have won a medal each. This has resulted in India leading the team rankings list with 125 points, followed by Kazakhstan with 120.

Greco-Roman turned out to be the biggest surprise of the day. The category, which has traditionally not been the strongest for India, proved to be the biggest hunting ground as all the four wrestlers won medals.

Ankit Gulia defeated Korganov of Kazakhstan to win the gold in the 68kg category. In 75kg, Chirag Dhalia clinched a gold by winning both his bouts. The other two Greco-Roman medals came in 62kg and 85kg when Sumit and Arshdeep Singh won a silver each.