How did Indian wrestling fare at Asian Games 2023?
India bagged six medals (one silver and five bronze) in wrestling in the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou. Deepak Punia brought home the silver medal after losing to Hassan Yazdani of Iran via technical superiority. Yazdani won the gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics, silver in Tokyo and secured an Asian Games gold in Jakarta back in 2018.
Yazdani garnered eight points in the first round to put Punia under pressure. Although Punia tried to fight back, Yazdani did not give him much breathing space. The focus was on Punia after he bagged gold in the 86kg category in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year.
Sunil Kumar won the bronze medal in the Greco-Roman 87kg event after beating Atabek Azisbekov 2-1. Antim Panghal was impressive after she won the bronze medal in the women’s 53kg category. The 19-year-old beat Mongolia’s Bolortuya Bat-ochir 3-1 to finish on the podium.
Sonam Malik won bronze in the women’s 62kg event after beating China’s Long Jia 7-5. Kiran Bishnoi bagged bronze in the women’s 76kg event after defeating Ariunjargal Ganbat of Mongolia 6-3. Aman Sehrawat went home with the bronze medal in the men’s freestyle 57kg event after beating China’s Minghu Liu 11-0.
Disappointment for Bajrang Punia in Asian Games 2023
Being one of India’s most prolific wrestlers, the focus was on Bajrang Punia in the men’s freestyle 65kg event. However, he lost to Japan’s Kaiki Yamaguchi. Bajrang, who took part in the Asian Games after not taking part in the selection trials, also faced a crushing defeat at the hands of Iran’s Amouzadkhalil in the semis.
Pooja Gehlot (women’s 50kg), Mansi Ahlawat (women’s 57kg), Radhika (women’s 68kg), Gyanender (Greco-Roman 60kg), Neeraj (Greco-Roman 67kg), Vikas (Greco-Roman 77kg), Narinder Cheema (Greco-Roman 97kg), Naveen (Greco-Roman 130kg), Yash (Men’s Freestyle 86kg), Vicky (Men’s freestyle 97kg) and Sumit (Men’s freestyle 125kg) also failed to win a medal.