Sunil reaches second successive final at Asian Wrestling

India's Sunil Kumar reached final of 87kg category with a brilliant come-from-behind victory over Azamat Kustubayev at Asian Wrestling Championships on Tuesday. Kumar was down 1-8 in his semi-final bout against his Kazakh opponent but made a great comeback, winning 11 points on trot to finish bout at 12-8. In 2019 also, Kumar had made it to final and ended with a silver medal.  In 87kg final, Rome Ranking Series silver medallist Sunil will play against Azat Salidiv from Kyrgyzstan.

Earlier in day, Arjun Halakurki (55kg) lost his semi-final bout from a winning position. He lost 7-8 against Iran's Pouya Mohammad Naserpour. Arjun will w be up against Korea's Donghyeok Won in bronze medal playoff. Mehar Singh also lost his last four bout.

Up against Minseok Kim of Korea, Mehar went down tamely to Korean by a 1-9 margin. Mehar had made Indian team at last minute. Just three days before tournament, India's number one in 130 kg, Naveen, pulled out of event due to injury.  Mehar replaced Naveen and won his opening bout against Daler Rakhmatov of Uzbekistan.

In first qualification bout of day, Sajan, who was one of India's big medal hopes lost in a disappointing manner. He was pitted against under-23 Asian champion Renat Iliazuulu of Kyrgyzstan in first round. Indian wrestler could t match initial onslaught of Iliazuulu and lost 6-9. Sachin Rana (63kg) faced a massive defeat against Elmurat Tasmuradov by a margin of 8-0. He was n pitted against Yernur Fidakhmetov of Kazakhstan where he could t put up much of a challenge and went down 6-3 in his Repech bout.

Results (For all Indians on Day 1)

55kg 

Quarterfinals  Arjun Halakurki (India) defeats Tuorki Ali (KSA) 10-2

Semi-finals  Arjun Halakurki (India) lost to Pouya Mohammad (Iran) 7-8

63kg

Last 16  Sachin Rana (India) beat Tynar SHARSHENBEKOV (KGZ) 6-0

Last 8    Sachin Rana (India) lost to Elmurat Tasmuradov (UZB) 0-8

77Kg

Last 16  Sajan (India) lost to Renat Iliazuulu (KGZ) 6-9

87Kg

Last 8  Sunil Kumar (India) beat Takahiro Tsuruda (Japan) 8-2

Semis  Sunil Kumar (India) beat Azamat Kustubayev (KAZ) 12-8

130Kg

Last 8  Mehar Singh (India) beat DALER RAKHMATOV (Uzbekistan) 4-0

Semis  Mehar Singh (India) lost to Minseok Kim (Korea) 9-1.