Wrestling
Asian U23 Wrestling C'ships: Sujeet Kalkal wins his second Asian U23 title
Indian wrestlers clinched 20 medals from the competition- 11 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze medals.
Wrestler Sujeet Kalkal. (Photo credit: SAI Media)
The young Indian wrestlers had an outstanding final day at the U23 Asian Wrestling Championships, winning six medals from the men's freestyle category in Vung Tau, Vietnam, on Saturday.
Five of the six medals were the gold medals won by Nikhil (61 Kg), Sujeet Kalkal (65 Kg), Jaideep (74 Kg), Chander Mohan (79 Kg), and Sachin (92 Kg), taking India's overall medal tally to 20 medals - 11 Gold, 6 Silver, and 3 bronze medals.
Nikhil, who narrowly missed a medal and placed fourth in the last edition, kicked off India's medal run with a commanding 7-2 victory over defending champion Merey Bazarbayev of Kazakhstan in the final.
Following him, Sujeet made it double gold for India with a technical superiority win over Umidjon Jalolov of Uzbekistan in the final, clinching his second U23 Asian title after a long wait of three years.
This will give good confidence to Sujeet, who had a disappointing start to the year at the Senior Asian Championships, where he caught an injury during a bout and had to give a walkover in the competition.
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old Jaideep upgraded his silver medal from the previous edition with a victory by pinfall against Zafarbek Otakhonov of Uzbekistan in the final to clinch his first-ever international gold medal.
Later, Chander Mohan and Sachin also clinched the gold medal bouts against Turkmenistan and Mongolian wrestlers, respectively, to clinch their Maiden Asian U23 titles here in Vietnam.
With this, India ended the men's freestyle category with six gold medals, which also included the men's 97 Kg gold medal won by Vicky on Friday, and topped the team ranking of men's freestyle competition.
Earlier, India also clinched the women's freestyle team title after winning medals in all 10 categories, which included four gold medals - Priyanshi Prajapat (50 Kg), Reena (55 Kg), Shristi (68 Kg), and Priya (76 Kg).
In Greco-Roman, Sumit (63 Kg) was the only Indian wrestler to win a gold medal at the event, which was India's first U23 Asian gold medal in Greco-Roman after three years.
