Harpreet Singh clinched India’s second medal at the ongoing Asian Wrestling championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan as he came back in style in the bronze medal bout of the 82kg Greco-Roman category to defeat Uzbekistan’s Nurbek Khashimbekov 11-3.
Harpreet was trailing 1-3 with less than two minutes remaining in the bout when he got caught hold off his opponent and rolled him over for a series of 2 points to emerge with an unassailable eight-point lead.
Harpreet, incidentally, gave India its first medal of the Asian championship last year which was hosted in New Delhi, as he clinched bronze in the 80 kg category on the opening day of the tournament.
With Harpreet’s medal, India have already doubled their tally from the Greco-Roman categories from the event last year, where only one out of the 10 medals came in an area which is not the strong suit for the country’s wrestlers.
Earlier on day one, Rajender Kumar bagged India’s first medal at the ongoing event when he fought back from a three point deficit to beat Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Mirakhmedov in the 55-kg Greco-Roman category medal bout. The 32-year-old, who won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, was staring at a defeat with two minutes left, but came up with a strong showing to level scores at 3-3 and was awarded the bout for winning the last point.
More to follow...