Wrestler Sunil Kumar bagged India’s first gold medal at the ongoing 2020 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi. Kumar, who had to be content with silver in the last edition, beat Kyrgyzstan’s Azat Salidinov 5-0 in the 87kg Greco-Roman final to win the gold and open India’s medal tally at the ongoing Championships. His medal also ended India's 27-year wait for a medal from the Greco-Roman category at the Asian Wrestling Championships. Kumar had progressed to the final after toppling another Kyrgyzstan opponent Azamat Kustubayev 12-8 in the semi-final bout at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium. Ravi Kumar Dahiya Looking to Win Gold at Asian Wrestling Championships.

He was trailing 1-8 in the semis against Azamat with chances of reaching the fina looking bleak but Sunil fought back with 11 successive points to eventually win the bout 12-8 and advance to the summit clash. The gold medal was also an improvement from his silver outing in the last edition of the tournament. Pappu Yadav was the last Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win a gold medal at the tournament. Yadav won in the 48kg in 1993.

Rajasthan CM Congratulates Sunil Kumar

“It feels great to better your own performance and change the medal colour from silver to gold. I have worked a lot on my ground wrestling techniques in the last one year and improved my defence. That helped me today,” Sunil was quoted as saying by The Hindu following his gold win.

Earlier, another medal contender Arjun Halakurki claimed bronze with a 7-4 victory against Korea's Dong Hyeok Won in the bronze-medal play-offs. Arjun looked destined for a final appearance after leading 7-1 against 2018 Junior Wrestling World Champion Pouya Mohammad Naserpour. But the Iranian bounced back to beat Arjun 7-8 and later went on to win the gold medal eventually.

Among the others in the medal fray, Mehar Singh lost to Kyrgyzstan's Roman Kim in the 130kg bronze-medal play-off while Sajan Bhanwal and Sachin Rana were knocked out of the preliminary stage.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 18, 2020 09:26 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).