Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia wins gold as he defeated Japan’s Daichi Takatani to give India their first gold medal at the Asian Games.
Bajrang Punia won India’s first gold medal at the continental tournament as he overcame Japanese wrestler Daichi Takatani.
The Indian wrestling star, who also won the gold in the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast earlier this year, continued on his terrific form at the Asian Games 2018.
The win is also special for Bajrang Punia as he lost to Daichi Takatani in the Asian Championships earlier this year.
Bajrang Punia started with his natural attacking game-play in the gold medal match, and was rewarded within seconds to the start of the match. The Indian wrestler scored six points within the first 80 seconds.
Takatani fought valiantly, however, but Bajrang cleverly conceded to the attack from the Japanese by allowing himself to be dragged outside the ring. The Japan’s wrestler scored two more points, after which Punia play out the rest of the first half in a defensive position.
Takatani continued to attack on Bajrang Punia’s legs and gained two more points by pushing him out of the ring to equalise the score at 6-6. Punia, however, returned the favour soon enough to take the lead in the bout again.
Both the wrestlers gained two more points when Takatani pulled Punia down with the same technique, but Punia counter-attacked. The Indian wrestler won the gold medal with a 10-8 win over Daichi Takatani.
Throughout the day, Punia looked in great shape, both physically and mentally as he beat all his opponents in one-sided bouts. He won the first round against Mongoli’s Sirojiddin Khasanov 13-3, and defeated Abdulqosim Fayziev on technical superiority.
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In the semifinal, he didn’t concede a single point to his opponent Batmagnai Batchuluuna, as he stormed into the final with a 10-0 victory.
With this gold, India has opened their gold medal account at the Asian Games 2018. Earlier in the day, Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar won India a bronze medal.
