It rained gold medals for India on Tuesday, with three of its five grapplers striking it rich, as the freestyle wrestling competitions got underway here on Tuesday. The fine show also helped the country get into a double count in terms of gold medals.
Besides the three titles won by Sushil Kumar, Amit Kumar and Vinesh, India also picked up a silver medal through Rajiv Tomar while Jyoti finished fourth in the women’s 75kg category.
Sushil, the two-time Olympic medal-winner and the champion at New Delhi 2010, proved to be the man to beat as he overcame the disadvantage of fighting in a higher weight category, consequent to the altered weight categories since last December.
For someone who had all along been fighting in the 66kg, Sushil showcased his skills in the 74kg in style as he found his way into the final with wins over three rounds.
Beginning with an easy win over Jayden Lawrence (Australia), the 31-year-old was hardly challenged by Kushan Sandrage (Sri Lanka) in the quarterfinals. He, however, faced some problems against Melive Bibo (Nigeria) in the round of four, especially in the second round. Sushil had a 6-0 lead at the end of the first before the Nigerian came back by earning four unanswered points in the second. The Indian eventually got through to the final on points.
In the final, Sushil had it easy against Qamar Abbas (Pakistan) as he won by a fall in just 1 minute and 47 seconds. “Well, I knew it would be easy. In fact, we did have good training before coming here and I am sure that the team will deliver in a big way through the next two days as well,” Sushil beamed.
Impressive display
Amit Kumar was another impressive performer as he notched up three easy wins, the last one over reigning champion Azhar Hussain (Pakistan) in the semifinals of the 57kg category. In the final, against Ebikwerminomo Welson (Nigeria) Amit allowed his opponent to attack before he countered in fine fashion to go up 4-0 at the end of the first round. In the second, he again followed the same ploy before winning the bout and the gold medal on points.
“I just wanted him to attack, so he would give me the leeway to counter. My ploy really worked well today and I am now looking forward to putting up a good show at the Asian Games in Incheon,” said Amit.
In the 125kg category, Rajeev Tomar had worked his way into the final after drawing a first round bye and getting past Sinivie Boltic (Nigeria) and Marcus Carney (New Zealand).
But against Jarvis Korey (Canada), passiveness cost Tomar and India dear as the Canadian scored points through a takedown in the first round and held on to his advantage in the second.
In the women’s section, Vinesh won the 48 kg gold medal with a points win over Yana Rattigan (England) in a bout that went the distance. The 19-year-old, the younger sister of Olympian Geeta, held the advantage all through earning a 6-4 lead in the first round.
The English girl did seem to close in, into the second round, matching point for point, but here again, Vinesh proved her mettle as she won a 11-8 decision.
Jyoti had one win and three losses in the 75kg wherein the Nordic system was put into play to determine the winner from among the five participants. She was placed fourth in the end.
