Gold Coast: Bajrang Punia was the lone gold medallist but it was nonetheless an admirable haul of four medals by Indian grapplers on the second day of Commonwealth Games wrestling competition at Gold Coast on Friday.
Puna claimed all his four bouts on technical superiority to finish on top in the 65kg category, the most dominating performance of the day by an Indian wrestler.
His final bout against Welshman Kane Charig lasted just over a minute.
Finishing with a silver medals were Pooja Dhanda (57kg) and Mausam Khatri (97kg), while Divya Kakran (68kg) settled for a bronze medal.
“This gold medal proves the significant improvement in my wrestling career as I won silver at the last Commonwealth Games. I played four bouts, and I was prepared quite well for the competition,” he said.
- Bajrang Punia | Gold medallist
Asked about his thoughts on the extremely short final bout, Puna said, “I didn’t see the time but I wanted to finish it as quickly as possible.”
“I respect all my opponents, but I fear none. We all tried our absolute best, but the sky was my limit today,” he added.
Puna defeated New Zealand’s Brahm Richards, Nigeria’s Amas Daniel, and Canada’s Vincent De Marinis en route the final.
Pooja, on the other hand, claimed easy wins in the preliminary stage before being out-witted by defending champion Odunayo Adekuoroye in the final clash. The Indian lost 5-7 in a close contest, during which she did remarkably well in the second round.
“Had I performed the way whole bout the way I performed in the second round, I could have won. I lacked in attack and could not take my chances. I would look to to change the colour of the medal next time. It was hard luck for India,” she said.
Joining her in the second place was Khatri, making his debut at the Games. The former Asian Games bronze-medallist had a smooth-sailing preliminary campaign before hitting a roadblock in South African Martin Erasmus.
Erasmus prevailed 12-2 in the bout as Khatri had no response to his relentless attacks.
“I wanted a gold which could not happen and I have myself to blame. I will just move forward and ensure that mistakes don’t get repeated,” he said.
Earlier, Divya Kakran lost to Nigeria’s two-time CWG medallist Blessing Oborududu in the semi-final but recovered quickly to easily get past Bangladesh’s Sherin Sultana for a bronze medal
Indian paddlers Manika Batra and Mouma Das clinched the silver medal in women’s doubles.
The Indian duo was outplayed 5-11, 4-11, 5-11 by Feng Tianwei and Yu Mengyu of Singapore in the gold medal clash. Unforced errors and some aggressive game from Singapore kept India on the back foot throughout the match.
The Indian duo, however, put up a fight but failed to match the pace of their opponents.
The banning of two Indian competitors for breaching the ‘no-needles’ policy overshadowed the success a little.
Commonwealth Games Federation president Louise Martin said triple jumper Rakesh Babu and race walker Irfan Kolothum Thodi had been banned from the games and ordered to return home immediately.
