It was a golden day for Indian wrestlers in the ring. Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, Amit Kumar and teenage women wrestler Vinesh Phogat won three gold medals for India in wrestling on Tuesday.
Sushil took just 107 seconds to beat Pakistan’s Qamar Abbas to win the gold medal in the men’s freestyle 74kg category wrestling final in the 2014 Commonwealth Games at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) here.
Sushil was leading 6-2 in the first period when the referee V Keelan decided to give it in favour of the Indian, who managed to pin down Abbas.
It was the third gold for India after Amit Kumar and Vinesh Phogat’s triumph in their respective categories.
Amit won the gold medal in the men’s freestyle 57kg category beating Nigerian Ebikweminomo Welson in the final. While Vinesh Phogat clinched gold in the women’s freestyle 48kg wrestling competition with a thrilling win over England’s Yana Rattigan.
Vinesh won 11-8 against Yana in a close contest.
In the last bout of the day, India’s Rajiv Tomar won silver in men’s 125kg making it four our of four for the Indians on the mat.
Easy bout: Sushil
After his gold, Sushil said more should be expected.
In his match, Abbas could not endure Sushil even for the full first three-minute period in the 74kg freestyle bout. “It was an easy final bout for me and I feel happy to have added another gold in the CWG,” Sushil, who had won his first CWG gold at the 2010 Delhi edition in the 66kg category, said after his bout.
“I feel proud that we (wrestlers) are doing very well in the Games here. Our wrestling team has Olympic medallist and medallist in other top international events and we will get more medals in the Glasgow CWG in the coming days,” said Sushil, who won a bronze in 66kg in 2008 Beijing Olympics and a silver in 2012 london Olympics, said.
Sushil was competing under the new weight class of 74kg for the second time after the world body had re-jigged weight categories ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. He had won a silver at the International Freestyle Championship in Sassari, Italy before the Glasgow Games.
He said he did not face any problems while competing in the new category. “I had no problem which shifting to the new weight category. Today I did not have any problems in any bout today.”
Sushil’s opponent in the final Abbas said he was satisfied with the silver. “I am content with it. I was fasting throughout training and I couldn’t give up fasting (due to Ramazan)for this so I wasn’t at my best,” said Abbas.
Another Indian gold medallist wrestler Amit Kumar, who won the yellow metal in 57kg category said his target now is the 2016 Rio Olympics. “I’ve won gold and I feel really good. It’s my first Commonwealth Games. I am definitely aiming for the Rio 2016 Olympics,” he said.
Asked about the techniques he used in the final bout against Ebikweminomo Welson of Nigeria, he said, “I wanted him to attack so that I could get him on the counter. All of the points I got were on the counter.”
Vinesh was also happy with her feat. “I’ve won gold and I feel really good. It’s my first Commonwealth Games,” she said.
“I come from a family of wrestlers and they have really supported me. I also feel proud for them.”