Indore: Back into the fold after a gap of three years, it took merely two minutes and 33 seconds for the two time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar, to clinch the gold at the National Wrestling Championships, in Indore on Friday.
The former World Champion had fought his initial two bouts, before three of his opponents in the quarter-final, semi-final and the final – gave him a walkover.
He took just 48 seconds to beat Mizoram’s Lalmalsawma via a techincal fall and then pinned down Mukul Mishra in just over a minute and 45 seconds in his next bout. Following which Praveen his opponent in the quarter-finals gave him a walkover. Sanjib Dahiya was next in the semis and he too gave him a walkover, Parveen Rana was his opponent in the final and the Haryana wrestler who, owing to his thigh injury gave Sushil another walkover ensuring his smooth transition to the gold medal.
Meanwhile, the Phogat sisters continued their dominance in the field of wrestling, as Geeta Phogat defeated Ravita in the final of the 59kg category to clinch the gold. Sakshi Malik, India’s only women wrestler to win an Olympic medal, brushed aside Haryana’s Pooja to win the gold medal in the 62 kg category.
Earlier, Vinesh and Ritu Phogat had clinched the gold medals in their respective categories on the opening day of the National championship, in Indore on Thursday.
While Commonwealth Games gold medallist Vinesh, who was representing Railways defeated Manisha of Haryana in the women’s 55kg category to clinch the gold medal, youngster Ritu competing in the 50kg category got the better of Nirmala to bag the yellow medal.
The Results –
Women’s Freestyle:
48kg: Ritu (Gold), Nirmal Devi (Silver), Preeti (Bronze) & Sheetal Tomar (Bronze).
53kg: Seema (Gold), Pinki (Silver), Priyanka (Bronze) & Diksha Tomar (Bronze).
55kg: Vinesh (Gold) Manisha (Silver), Swaranjeet Kaur (Bronze) & Reena (Bronze).
57kg: Pooja Dhanda (Gold), Sangeeta (Silver), Rani Rana (Bronze) & Indu Tomar (Bronze).
59kg: Geeta Phogat (Gold), Ravita (Silver), Sakshi (Bronze), & Sarita (Bronze).
62kg: Sakshi Malik (Gold), Pooja Tomar (Silver), Pooja (Bronze) & Manju (Bronze).
65kg: Ritu Malik (Gold), Gargi Yadav (Silver), Shilpi Sheron (Bronze) & Ishika Tomar (Bronze).
68kg: Divya Kakran (Gold), Monia (Silver), Kusum (Bronze) & Pinki (Bronze).
72kg: Kiran (Gold), Manu Tomar (Silver), Naina (Bronze) & Kamini (Bronze).
76kg: Pooja (Gold), Kavita (Silver), Jyoti (Bronze) & Rani (Bronze).
Men’s Freestyle:
57 kg: Utkrash Kale (Gold); Ravi Kumar (Silver); Amit, Mayank (Bronze)
65 kg: Sonu (Gold), Praveen (Silver), Surjeet, Karan (Bronze).
74 kg: Sushil Kumar (Gold), Praveen Rana (Silver), Praveen, Balraj (Bronze)
86 kg: Pawan Kumar (Gold), Deepak (Silver), Surajvir, Deepak Punia (Bronze).