Commonwealth Games 2018 Wrestling: Vinesh Phogat, Sumit Malik win gold, Sakshi, Somveer get bronze
April 14, 2018
Indian ended its campaign in wrestling with two gold, and two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Saturday.
Vinesh Phogat beat Canada’s Jessica Macdonald 13-3 in her last bout to win gold in women’s freestyle 50 kg (the bouts in this category were held in Nordic System (round-robin) format. The second Indian gold from the mat on Saturday was claimed by Sumit Malik in the men’s freestyle 125 kg after his opponent Nigeria’s Sinivie Boltic was ruled out of the final due to an injury.
The two bronze medals were won by Sakshi Malik (women’s 62 kg freestyle class) and Somveer (men’s 86 kg category).
Sumit’s dramatic final
Sumit defeated Pakistan’s Tayab Raza 10-4 in a dramatic final bout. It turned out to be a pulsating contest as Sumit was leading early on but Raza came back to reduce the deficit to 2-3 after taking down the Indian’ with a leg attack.
However, Sumit didn’t allow his rival to dominate and make a comeback. He displayed incredible athleticism, hopping around the mat to avoid stepping outside after Raza once again grabbed his leg.
The Indian counter-attacked and eventually won comfortably with a big margin.
Earlier, Sumit made an incredible comeback to win this bout against Korey Jarvis of Canada. Lagging 0-2 initially, the Indian turned it around to make it 3-2 before drawing level at 3-3.
In the dying moments, Sumit flipped Jarvis to win 6-4 in the end.
Earlier, Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik went down to Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria 3-6 in a nervous bout to end her golden dreams.
Sakshi, who won silver in 58 kg freestlye in Glasgow, beat Tayla Ford of New Zealand 6-5 to earn the bronze medal.
