It was a fruitful outing for the young Indian grapplers on day three of the Asian cadet wrestling championship, as they won five medals, including two gold, on Saturday.
In the freestyle category, Naveen outplayed his Uzbek opponent Rakhmonov Abbos 5-0 in the final (54kg) to win gold.
Suraj Rajkumar dominated Tajikistan’s Abubakri Jamshed in the 63-kg final, winning 12-2 on points to claim India’s fourth gold in freestyle and equal its tally of the previous edition. The Indian men’s freestyle team was the overall champion in the 2014 edition at Bangkok with four golds and four bronze medals.
Among the women, Reena and Nisha both faltered at the final hurdle, losing the title clash in their respective categories to settle for silver.
Sajan earned India’s only second medal in the Greco-Roman category, winning bronze in the 76 kg category. Pardeep had won gold in the 50 kg on the opening day.
The results (Indians unless stated): Freestyle: 54 kg: 1. Naveen, 2. Rakhmonov Abbos (Uzb), 3. Minsu Cho (Kor) and Taniyama Takuma (Jpn); 58 kg: 1. Tumur-ochir Tulga (Mon), 2. Amirhossein Kavousi (Iri), 3. Tojiboev Bunyod (Uzb) and Akmataliev Ernazar (Kgz); 63 kg: 1. Suraj Rajkumar, 2. Abubakri Jamshed (Tjk), 3. Jinwood Kim (Kor) and Sharsheev Tilek (Kgz).
Greco-Roman: 69 kg: 1. Almov Abubakr (Uzb), 2. Akhmedov Faridun (Tjk), 3. Taeyang Yun (Kor) and Shaginyan Eduard (Tkm); 76 kg: 1. Uzzenov Bagdat (Kaz), 2. Mozlem Moradi (Iri), 3. Sajan and Inseob Kim (Kor).
Women: 52 kg: 1. Okuno Haruna (Jpn), 2. Reena, 3. Jo Kuk Hwa (N. Kor) and Anbdintsetseg A. (Mon); 56 kg: 1. Kawauchi Saki (Jpn), 2. Djullibaeva Shakhodat (Uzb), 3. Aibike Artykalikyzy (Kgz) and Temirtassova Aina (Kaz); 60 kg: 1. Esenbaea Nabira (Uzb), 2. Nisha, 3. Zhumanazarova Meerim (Kgz) and Naganuma Naoko (Jpn).
