Bishkek: India added to their tally courtesy Bajrang Punia and Vinod Omprakash, who won bronze medals in their respective matches at the Asian Wrestling Championship in Kyrgyzstan on Saturday. India now have a total of eight medals in the competition which includes one gold, one silver and six bronze.
Punia got the better of Iran’s Yones Aliakbar Emamichogaei in the 65kg freestyle event while Vinod defeated local boy Elaman Dogdurbek Uulu in the 70kg freestyle category.
The scoreline 10-4 which ended in Punia’s favour didn’t exactly define the contest between the Indian and Iranian opponent as the former trailed in four of the six-minute match.
Emamichoghaei attained an early 2-0 lead within 30 seconds after which Punia fought back to level up things before the break. But the Iranian started the second half in the same fashion as he did in the first when he once again took a two-point lead but with less than two-minutes remaining, Punia staged a comeback with some smart moves and tied the proceedings after which he scored three two-pointers to win the match.
Punia had earlier defeated Tajikistan’s Abdulqosim Fayziev to make his way into the bronze medal match.
The clash between Vinod and Uulu was although a low-scoring contest, but a tight one in every sense of the word. The local scored the first point of the match just before the break.
Vinod came back strongly to level the points right in the second half. Uulu once again took the lead with just 40 seconds left in the match but Vinod in the 10 remaining seconds clawed his way back into the match, this time with a two-pointer to end the match 3-3. The Indian was adjudged the bronze medal winner courtesy the fact that he had won the last points.