India bag 3 Greco-Roman bronze medals at Asian Wrestling Championship

Three Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers clinched bronze medals on second day of Asian Wrestling Championships at KD Jadhav Hall, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday. Ashu, Aditya and Hardeep mand to have consolation of a Podium finish, after having missed in opportunities for a shot at more prestigious medal.

Earlier, India qualified for four Bronze medal bouts after losing out on a chance to seal a spot in any of gold medal clashes. In first of four bronze medal matches, India’s Gyanender had to face disappointment as he lost out to Uzbekistan’s Islomjon Bakhramov 0-6 in 60 KG weight category.

India’s second Bronze medal saw Ashu (67KG) earn a commanding 6-1 win over Syria’s Muhammad Alhasan which was redemption of loss that he faced in semi-final, which he lost against Uzbek Makhmud Bakhshilloev due to a technical win awarded to latter.

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'I am happy things panned out as planned'

“It feels great to earn a Bronze medal in my first ever senior championship. I lost my semi-final bout as I invested a lot of time on attacking, which I worked upon in this bout with more emphasis on defence. I am happy that things panned out as planned,” said an elated Ashu after his win.

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India’s second Bronze medal came when 23-year old Aditya Kundu (72KG) wrapped up his bout in less than two minutes defeating Japanese wrestler Nao Kusaka 8-0. This was Aditya’s first Asian Championship and his second ever international tournament. Aditya who will w focus on his Olympics qualification will aim to reduce his weight to 67 KG to be able to compete at Tokyo Olympics later this year.
 
“It feels good to have won Bronze medal. I lost out on my gold medal match but I am happy I could play as per my strategy in this game and reby win bout,” said Aditya after his win. India’s Hardeep (97KG) earned third and final Bronze medal of day by defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Beksultan Makhmudov 3-1.

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Hardeep after his win said, “I was worried at one point when I was supposed to be on ground as it is a weakness that I have been working upon. In end, I was able to maintain my cool and hold opponent off with a strong defensive strategy.”
 
India w has five medals that include one Gold and four Bronze medals in Asian Wrestling Championships 2020 in Greco Roman category bettering ir performance from last Asian meet.

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Im Credits: Twitter