Bishkek: Navjot Kaur etched her name in history on Friday as she became the first Indian woman wrestler to clinch a gold medal at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships when she defeated Miya Imai in the summit clash of the women’s 65kg freestyle category in Bishkek.
Kaur was thoroughly dominant over her Japanese opponent and ended up getting the better of her 9-1, in a completely one-sided contest to get her hands on the yellow metal. This was also India’s first gold medal in the ongoing championships.
Sakshi Malik who had made the country proud at the 2016 Rio Olympics, won the bronze medal in the 62kg freestyle category where she overcame a tough challenge in the form of Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym Kassymova.
Courtesy these two wins, India now have a total of six medals in the competition- one gold, one silver and four bronze medals.
Navjot’s scintillating performance was the highlight of the day for India as she outclassed Imai convincingly in the final. The 28-year-old earlier had won a silver medal at the Asian Championships in 2013 and she also has a a bronze to her name in the 67kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Sakshi on the other hand had to fend off some tough resistance from Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym in the final where she eventually won 10-7.
Vinesh Phogat, who had earlier defeated Japan’s Yuki Irie had to settle for a silver medal after she lost 2-3 to China’s Chun Lei in the summit clash of the women’s 50kg freestyle category.
Sangeeta, another Indian wrestler clinched the bronze medal as she defeated Koreas’s Jieun Um in the final of the women’s 59kg freestyle event. Divya Kakran unfortunately couldn’t add to India’s medal tally as she lost against Meerim Zhumaranova in a match to determine the bronze-medal winner.