Sunil wins gold, ends 27-year wait for India in Greco-Roman

New Delhi : Sunil Kumar on Tuesday overpowered Azat Salidinov of Kyrgyzstan 5-0 in the 87kg summit bout to win India's first Greco-Roman gold medal in Asian Wrestling Championships in 27 years.

Entering the gold medal bout after a come-from-behind victory in the semifinal, Kumar comprehensively defeated his opponent in the final of 87kg category at the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium here.

Earlier, Kumar was down 1-8 in his semifinal bout against his Kazakh opponent Azamat Kustubayev but made a great comeback, grabbing 11 points on the trot to win the bout at 12-8.

In 2019 also, Kumar had made it to the final and ended with a silver medal. Another Indian, Arjun Halakurki won a bronze in Greco-Roman 55kg, his first medal at his first senior international event. Arjun was leading 7-1 against Iran's Naserpour but lost 7-8 in the semifinal.

Mehar Singh also lost his last four bout. Up against Minseok Kim of Korea, Mehar went down tamely to the Korean by a 1-9 margin. Mehar had made the Indian team at the last minute.

Just three days before the tournament, India's number one in 130 kg, Naveen, pulled out of the event due to injury. Mehar replaced Naveen and won his opening bout against Daler Rakhmatov of Uzbekistan.

In the first qualification bout of the day, Sajan, who was one of India's big medal hopes lost in a disappointing manner. He was pitted against under-23 Asian champion Renat Iliazuulu of Kyrgyzstan in the first round. The Indian wrestler could not match the initial onslaught of Iliazuulu and lost 6-9.

Sachin Rana (63kg) faced a massive defeat against Elmurat Tasmuradov by a margin of 8-0. He was then pitted against Yernur Fidakhmetov of Kazakhstan where he could not put up much of a challenge and went down 6-3 in his Repechage bout.

Results (For all Indians on Day 1)

55kg Quarterfinals – Arjun Halakurki (India) defeats Tuorki Ali (KSA) 10-2 Semi-finals – Arjun Halakurki (India) lost to Pouya Mohammad (Iran) 7-8 63kg Last 16 – Sachin Rana (India) beat Tynar SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) 6-0 Last 8 – Sachin Rana (India) lost to Elmurat Tasmuradov (UZB) 0-8 77Kg Last 16 – Sajan (India) lost to Renat Iliazuulu (KGZ) 6-9 87Kg Last 8 – Sunil Kumar (India) beat Takahiro Tsuruda (Japan) 8-2 Semis – Sunil Kumar (India) beat Azamat Kustubayev (KAZ) 12-8 130Kg Last 8 – Mehar Singh (India) beat DALER RAKHMATOV (Uzbekistan) 4-0 Semis – Mehar Singh (India) lost to Minseok Kim (Korea) 9-1.