Asian Junior Wrestling Championships | Deepak Punia and Sachin Rathi clinch individual gold
Deepak Punia and Sachin Rathi, with their spectacular performance, clinched individual golds at the Asian Junior Wrestling Championships in New Delhi on Sunday. Overall, India finished second in the team championships in the event with 173 points, while Iran claimed the top position with 189 points.
On the final day of the Championship, there were four out of five Indian wrestlers, who had cleared their way to the medal rounds. While Suraj Rajkumar Kokate (61kg) and Mohit (125kg) managed to win bronze medals, Somveer Singh remained incapable of bagging any in the 92 kg category. Sachin Rathi was the first to claim gold for India in the 74 kg category as he overwhelmed Mongolia's Bat-Erdene Byambasuren in the final match. Initially, Rathi was trailing 2-5 and further backtracked to 2-9. However, after that, he took the reins to subdue his opponent and claim victory.
“I knew I could win. My coach told me that I have to fight every second. I had the confidence to win gold despite trailing by many points. I just did not give up. It was more of a mental challenge after conceding such lead and I did it,” Rathi said.
Deepak Punia, on the other hand, won gold in the 86 kg category. His encounter was against Turkmenistan's Azat Gajyyev where he won via technical superiority. In his route to reach the finals, Deepak defeated Iran's Seyedsajjad Seyedmehdi Seyedi (8-2), Kazakhstan's Daniyar Meldebek (11-0) and Japan's Kairi Yagi (16-6). He had entered the tournament after claiming his bronze at Tbilisi Grand Prix in Georgia, the same event where Indian Wrestler Sushil Kumar got defeated first time in four years.
India's Suraj Rajkumar Kokate established a 16-8 win to claim a bronze medal as he fought against Japan's Yuto. At the end of the first period, Suraj had a lead of 8-4. Though Yuto was able to level the score to 8-8, Suraj eventually managed eight more points to establish his win. Suraj, however, lost his semifinal match against Kazakhstan's Syrbaz Talgat by 6-9.
Mohit earned his bronze by defeating Mongolia's Bat Erdene Erdenebaatar and won via technical superiority in the 125 kg category. In the 92 kg category, Somveer Singh lost his chances of winning a medal as he was overwhelmed by Japan's Takuma Otsu in the third round by 2-3.