Bhaijaan a hit in China too

Xi’an (China), April 23

World No. 1 Bajrang Punia logged 10 points in a row in the gold medal bout to reclaim his Asian Championships crown, defeating Kazakhstan’s Sayatbek Okassov 12-7 in a nail-biting 65kg men’s freestyle final. 

The Asian Games champion was trailing 2-7 with just 60 seconds to go for the final bell but the unperturbed Indian produced three gut-wrench moves and an exposure move to take eight points after he began the attack with a two-point takedown. The Kazakh was visibly tired while Punia showed immense stamina and calmness under pressure to emerge triumphant. 

On his way to the final, Punia had conceded just one point. He defeated Uzbekistan’s Sirojiddin Khasanov 12-1 in the semifinals, after he had won by technical superiority against Charles Fern of Sri Lanka. He had earlier beaten Peyman Biabani of Iran 6-0. “I have been training to adopt new techniques; am happy that I could implement those and I am very happy that I could win the match and a gold medal here. There is lots to work on and my focus is to prepare for the World Championships, which also is an Olympics qualifier,” said Punia.

Parveen Rana won his first big medal in seven years though he missed out on the top prize. Rana, who won a bronze in this championship in 2012, lost the 79kg gold medal bout 0-3 to 2017 World Championships bronze medallist Bahman Mohammad Teymouri of Iran. Rana had won a close 3-2 semifinal against Kazakhstan’s Galymzhan Usserbayev.

 “I am happy that I could change the colour of my medal. There are quite a few important tournaments coming up and this win will further motivate me as I aim to win a berth for the World Championships later this year and qualify for Olympics,” said Rana.

Bronze for Satyawart 

Satyawart Kadian lost to Batzul Ulziisaikhan in the 97kg quarterfinal bout but went on to make the cut after his Mongolian rival reached the final. He won the bronze playoff 8-1 against Haobin Gao of China. In the 57kg division, Ravi Kumar entered the bronze medal playoff round after winning his repechage against Chia Tso Liu of Taipei 4-0 but lost the medal bout 3-5 to Yuki Takahashi of Japan. Rajneesh bowed out of the tournament early in 70kg category. — PTI 

Winners 

• Gold: (65kg): Bajrang Punia bt Sayatbek Okassov 12-7 
• Silver (79kg): Parveen Rana lost 0-3 to Iran’s Mohammad Teymouri in final 
• Bronze (97kg): Satyawart Kadian bt Haobin Gao 8-1 in the repechage round