India wrestlers clinch ten gold medals on opening day of the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships
What's the story?
In a proud moment for Indian sports, the Indian contingent participating at the 2017 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in South Africa has clinched 10 gold medals and an equal number of silver medals on day one of the competition.
The Greco-Roman team won the 20 medals, comprising of victories in all the ten categories of the championship.
In case you didn't know
The Commonwealth Wrestling Championships is a competition that plays host to some of the best wrestlers in the world. The Greco-Roman category, which is exclusively for male wrestlers has been contested once in India, when it was hosted in Jalandhar during the year 1996.
The heart of the matter
A 60-member team from India landed in Johannesburg, South Africa to take part in the competition. The squad comprised of wrestlers from all over India but the cynosure of all eyes was Sushil Kumar, who was returning to international scenario after a long hiatus of three years.
The team that clinched the gold medal comprised of Haryana's Rajendra Kumar (55kg), Manish (60kg), Naveen (130kg) while the silver-medal was bagged by Prabhpal Singh (87kg) and Sonu (130kg).
Sushil Kumar, who will be contesting in the ring after a long layover tweeted about the same ahead of leaving for the competition.
The wrestler, who won the gold medal at the National Championship in Indore last month will be riding high on confidence ahead of his bout.
What's Next?
The female wrestlers' bouts will take place later today while the freestyle event in all the ten categories will be held on the 17th of December 2017.
Author's Take
India has got off to a great start in the tournament and with more bouts set to be fought out, the wrestlers will hope to clinch more medals.