Sunil Kumar on Tuesday overcame Kyrgyzstan’s Azat Salidinov 5-0 in the 87kg summit clash to win India’s first Greco-Roman gold medal in Asian Wrestling Championships in 27 years.
Coming on the back of an emphatic win in the semifinal, Kumar defeated his opponent in the finals to win the yellow metal the KD Jadhav Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
In the semis it was a see-saw battle for Kumar as he was down 1-8 against Azamat Kustubayev but made a great comeback, grabbing 11 points on the trot to win the bout at 12-8.
“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 told after his match.
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.