Bajrang Punia beat Japan's Takatani Daichi 10-8 in the men's 65 kg freestyle category to clinch gold for India
India's pride Bajarang Punia clinched gold in the ongoing Asian Games at Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia. He won in the men's 65 kg freestyle category by beating Japan's Takatani Daichi 10-8.
Bajrang Punia had beaten Mongolia’s Batmagnai Batchuluun 10-0 with technical superiority in semi-finals to keep the hope of gold, in 65 kg freestyle category, alive.
Earlier, he had defeated Uzbekistan’s Sirojiddin Khasanov by 13-3 and Tajikistan’s Abdulqosim Fayziev by 12-2 in quarterfinals.
24-year old Punia hails from Haryana’s Jhajjar district. In the finals, Punia will fight against Daichi Takatani of Japan.
It can be noted that Punia had won a silver medal in the 61 kg category in the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea. He also won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in 65 kg category.
Another hope for a medal for India is from Pawan Kumar, who will fight for bronze in the 86 kg category.
He qualified for the repechage and beat Indonesia’s Fahriansyah in the Repechage Round 2 and has now entered the match for a bronze medal.
Another strong contender from India, Sushil Kumar was defeated against Adam Batirov (Bahrain) in the first round of 74 kg category. However, as Baitrov was eliminated, Sushil has no hopes of winning any medals.
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