Asian Games 2018 | Bajrang Punia clinches maiden Asian Games gold medal

Bajrang Punia left for Indonesia on the back of some pretty impressive wins at this year’s 2018 Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek followed by a stunning gold at the 2018 Gold Coast CWG. He began his campaign in Indonesia with a bye in the first round but backed that up with three back-to-back wins by technical superiority.

India’s biggest medal hope, Bajrang, delivered on his promise as he became the first Indian athlete at this year’s Asian showpiece to bag a gold medal for India. Punia beat Japan’s Daichi Takatani 11-8 in the final bout of the men’s 65 kg category to secure gold for his country. The 24-year old raced away to a 6-0 lead before his Japanese counterpart fought back to tie the bout at 6-6. But Punia’s determination eventually paid off as he put in a great defensive show towards the end of the bout and held on to a memorable win in Jakarta.

The young lad from Haryana had initially outclassed Uzbekistan’s Sirojiddin Khasanov 13-3, as he won the bout by technical superiority. He followed that up with another classy show in the quarter-final as he overcame Tajikistan’s Abdulqosim Fayziev 12-2 to storm into the last four. But his best performance came in the semi-final bout as he overpowered Mongolia’s Batmagnai Batchuluun 10-0 to win his third straight bout via technical superiority.