Business Standard

Asian Wrestling C'ships: Sunil wins India's 1st Greco-Roman gold in 27 yrs

The last Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win gold at the Asian Championships was Pappyu Yadav who won the 48 kg title in 1993

Wrestler Sunil Kumar

India's Sunil Kumar celebrates after his win against Salidinov Azat (KAZ) in the final of 87kg category wrestling match during the Asian Wrestling Championship 2020, in New Delhi. Photo: PTI

IANS New Delhi

Sunil Kumar became the first Indian wrestler in 27 years to win a Greco-Roman gold at the Asian Wrestling Championships on Tuesday. Sunil defeated Azat Salidinov of Kyrgyzstan 5-0 to clinch the 87 kg title after a come-from-behind win in his semi-final bout.

The last Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win gold at the Asian Championships was Pappyu Yadav who won the 48 kg title in 1993.

Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp

Earlier, Sunil on his way to the final made an impressive comeback in the semi-final bout. He came back from 1-8 down to win the bout 12-8. This was an improvement for Sunil from his 2019 performance in the same tournament where he won silver.

 
Wrestler Sunil Kumar
India's Sunil Kumar holds a gold medal after his win against Salidinov Azat (KAZ) in the final of 87kg category wrestling match during the Asian Wrestling Championship 2020, in New Delhi. Photo: PTI

"I am feeling happy to have earned India's first Gold Medal today. I have worked really hard on my ground techniques and it feels good to have done better than my last year's performance," said Sunil.

Arjun Halakurki (55 kg) won bronze after beating Donghyeok Won of Korea. Arjun started the bout slowly and was down by 1-4 in the first period. But he went on to snatch six straight points with a combination of good defence and attack. The final score at the end of the bout was 7-4 in favour of Arjun.

India's third medal hope Mehar Singh (130 kg) lost his bronze medal bout against Roman Kim of Kyrgyzstan by a narrow scoreline of 2-3. Mehar was suffering from a wrist injury that he picked up in his semi-final bout earlier.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Feb 19 2020 | 2:03 PM IST

Explore News