The grapplers of India had again made India proud. On day 9th of the Commonwealth Games, the wrestlers accumulated a total of 4 medals with 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.
Bajrang Punia delivered gold in the Men’s Freestyle 65kg category by defeating Kane Charig of Wales 10-0 in just over two minutes. Bajrang had stormed into the final of the men’s freestyle 65kg event with wins over New Zealand’s Brahm Richards, Nigeria’s Amas Daniel and Canada’s Vincent de Marinis. He won all the matches by technical superiority.
In the other gold medal fight, Pooja Dhanda won silver in the women’s
57kg freestyle after losing her final match against Olympic bronze medalist and two-time World Championship medalist Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria. Trailing 1-6, Dhanda almost turned the table in the last 30 second and won herself 4 points. But Odunayo was lucky to survive and won the match by 7-5.
In another gold medal fight of the day, Mausam Khatri lost 2-12 in 97kg Freestyle to Martin Erasmus of South Africa in a one-sided contest. Khatri lost to Erasmus in the 97kg freestyle final.
Teenaged wrestler
Divya Kakran debuted at this year’s Commonwealth Games with a bronze in the Women’s 68kg Freestyle event. In the bronze medal play-off, Divya outplayed Sherin Sultana of Bangladesh in only 36 seconds to win the bronze.
