There is literally no stopping the Indian athletes. Time and again, they are proving that they are worth the weight in gold by winning medals for the country. Now, let’s take a moment to appreciate our Wrestler Sunil Kumar who settled for the gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships.
Sunil Kumar scripted history by becoming the first Indian wrestler in 27 years to win a Greco-Roman gold medal, a fabulous achievement that is one to remember. Sunil Kumar got the better of Azat Salidinov of Kyrgyzstan by 5-0 to bag the 87 kg title after a come-from-behind win in his semi-final bout.
It should be noted that the last Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to clinch a gold medal at the Asian Championships was Pappyu Yadav who bagged the 48 kg title in 1993.
Previously, Sunil on his way to the final gave absolutely everything and made a stellar comeback in the semi-final bout. He came back from 1-8 down to bag the bout 12-8. It was a massive improvement for Sunil from his 2019 performance in the same tourney where he won the silver medal.
“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,” Sunil Kumar was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
Meanwhile, Arjun Halakurki (55 kg) won bronze medal after beating Donghyeok Won of Korea. Arjun started the bout gradually and was down by 1-4 in the first spell. But he went on to snatch as many as six straight points with a combination of good defence and attack. However, in the end, Arjun made a stellar comeback as the final score at the end of the bout was 7-4 in favour of Arjun.