Asian Wrestling Championships: Bajrang Punia wins India's first gold in thrilling comeback match

Bajrang Punia opened India’s medal tally at the Asian Wrestling Championships with a gold in the 65kg freestyle category. He defeated Asian games bronze medallist Sayatbek Okassov of Kazakhstan 12-7 in the final on Tuesday in Xi’an, China.

The world No 1 was 2-5 at the end of the first period but made a thrilling comeback to win the bout. 

Bajrang was trailing 0-4 after the first minute. Okassov maintained a 5-2 lead at the break and Punia suffered another takedown soon after the break and was trailing 2-7.

With about a minute left, Punia launched a leg-attack on Okassov and took two points to bring down the deficit to 4-7. The Kazak wrestler failed to defend and Punia took advantage to take 12-7 lead, which remained the final score.

Punia had won the same title in 2017 in New Delhi but finished with a bronze medal in 2018.

In the 57kg weight division, Ravi Kumar lost the bronze medal bout 3-5 to former world champion Yuki Takahashi. He had entered the bout after winning against Chia Tso Liu of Taipei 4-0. 

In the women's event, India's top wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, Pooja Dhanda and Divya Kakran are also in contention.