Indian grappler Harpreet Singh won the first medal for the country on the opening day of the Asian Wrestling Championship on Wednesday when he bagged a bronze in the Greco-Roman 80 kilogram category.
Indian grappler Harpreet Singh won the first medal for the country on the opening day of the Asian Wrestling Championship on Wednesday when he bagged a bronze in the Greco-Roman 80 kilogram category.
Harpreet edged out Na Junjie of China 3-2 in the play-off for the bronze medal.
As reported by Zee News, South Korea emerged as the most successful nation on the opening day with a tally of five medals including one gold, three silver and a bronze.
Harpreet made an excellent start to the bout and used his superior physical strength to wrest the upper hand early on. The judges made two passivity calls against the Chinese grappler which earned a point for the Indian.
But the scores were soon levelled when the judges appointed a passivity point against the local wrestler.
The Chinese tried to make a strong start to the second period, pushing Harpreet on to the back foot.
But just when it seemed that Na had managed to take the upper hand, the Indian turned the tables with a lightning quick take which earned him two points.
Harpreet dominated proceedings after that and although the Chinese tried hard to make a comeback, the Indian kept him at bay.
Earlier, Harpreet had made a promising start to his campaign with a hard fought 2-1 victory over Maeta Yuya of Japan in the qualification round.
But he ran into trouble in the quarter-finals as he was totally outclassed by the vastly superior technique and speed of Kim Junehyoung of South Korea and succumbed to a 0-8 defeat.
However, Harpreet got a chance to grapple for the bronze when Kim defeated Na 2-1 in the semi-finals to enter the summit clash.
The hosts however, missed out on a medal in the Greco-Roman 75kg category as Gurpreet Singh lost to Yang Bin of China by technical superiority.
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