Yogeshwar and Babita put smiles back on Indian faces

July 31, 2014 06:29 pm | Updated April 21, 2016 11:08 pm IST - Glasgow

Babita Kumari holds the Indian flag after securing the gold in the women's freestyle 55kg category.

Babita Kumari holds the Indian flag after securing the gold in the women's freestyle 55kg category.

Freestyle grapplers, led by Yogeshwar Dutt, put the smiles back on Indian faces on the concluding day of the wrestling event of the 20th Commonwealth Games at the SECC here on Thursday.

India won two gold medals through Yogeshwar (men’s 65kg) and Babita Kumari in the women’s 55kg class, a silver medal courtesy Geetika Jakhar in the women’s 63kg category and a bronze medal through Pawan Kumar in the men’s 86kg category to end the tournament with a haul of five golds, six silvers and two bronzes.

This is India’s second best ever haul in the sport at the Games. In New Delhi 2010, India tallied 6-4-2.

The hero of the day was none other than London 2012 bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt. Though competing in a higher weight category — the 65kg instead of his usual 60kg class — Yogeshwar had a smooth run before overcoming the challenge of Jevon Balfour (Canada) in the final.

The 32-year-old from Delhi was never stretched as he went about pinning opponent after opponent en route to the gold medal match. Alex Gladkov (Scotland) lasted just 2 minutes and 16 seconds as Yogeshwar won his pre-quarterfinal bout on greater superiority.

The story was the same in the quarterfinals as Gareth Jones, also of Scotland, found himself at the receiving end before the bout was stopped at 1 minute and 16 seconds in the first round.

And in the semifinals, Chamara Perera (Sri Lanka) faced Yogeshwar’s flurry of takedowns before the Indian won by a fall in two minutes and three seconds.

Commenting on his show, Yogeshwar said, “We had missed four gold medals last night. And I wasn’t going to let that happen today.

“You can execute your plan and get points at this level of competition. My favourite trick is to put in twists and turns. That’s how I got lots of points throughout the day to win the gold medal.”

India added a fourth gold when Babita Kumari defeated Brittanee Laverdure (Canada) on points in the women’s 55kg final.

The Haryana wrestler was up 5-0 in the first round and then gained four more points in the second to post an easy win.

In the 55kg class, Babita required only 53 seconds before beating Kathryn Marsh (Scotland) by technical superiority in the quarterfinals.

In the semis, the 25-year-old Haryana grappler pinned Louisa Porgovska (England) to a fall in one minute and seven seconds.

“It was not really a very difficult competition. My main focus is to win a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games,” said a beaming Babita later.

Pawan defeated Steve Hill (New Zealand) and Luigi Bianco (Scotland) convincingly — it took him only two minutes and a second to register a win on greater superiority over the Kiwi and one minute and 16 seconds to outlast the Scot by a fall.

However, in the semifinals, Pawan was overcome by his Canadian rival who won by a fall in 2 minutes and 35 seconds.

In the women’s section, Geetika Jakhar’s run ended when she faced Danielle Lappage (Canada) in the 63kg final. Earlier she was never tested during her previous rounds. Geetika essayed a win by a fall over Blandine Metala Epanga (Cameroon) in two minutes and 45 seconds in the round of last eight before overcoming Sarah Connolly (Wales) in the semifinals.

The Welsh woman won on technical superiority.

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