Nagoya: Asian Championships gold medallist freestyle wrestler Sujeet Kalkal sailed into the men’s 65kg final after beating reigning Olympic champion Japan’s Kotaro Kiyooka on Friday.
Sujeet came from 0-2 down to defeat Olympic champion and home favourite Kotaro 3-3 on criteria in a thrilling semi-final, producing the biggest victory of his career.
Sujeet will play for the gold medal against Abdulmazhid Kudiev of Tajikistan later in the day.
A U23 world champion, Sujeet began his campaign with a 13-3 technical superiority win over Sayed Omar Zazai of Afghanistan in the pre-quarterfinal bout. Zazai got three points on Sujeet early in the round of 16 bout.
But Sujeet settled down and got on board with a step-out. He then scored a four-pointer, a go-behind and an exposure to lead 9-3 before he completed a 13-3 win to move into the quarterfinals.
Sujeet then booked his spot in the semifinal against Olympic champion Kotaro after a 10-0 win over Abbas Ebrahimzadeh. He began with an arm throw before scoring exposure points twice and two go-behinds as well to complete the win.
In the semifinal against Kotaro, the Japanese wrestler scored two quick points to lead 2-0. But Sujeet made back-to-back scoring moves and held a 4-2 lead. After a review, Sujeet’s total was down to 3, but he was still leading. Kiyooka then tied the contest 3-3, and Sujeet went through to the final, as he had a bigger-scoring move than the Japanese.
In the men’s 125kg freestyle, Ruhal went down 3-8 to Kazakhstan’s U20 world champion Yedige Kassimbek in the opening round.
In the women’s wrestling, India has had a difficult start as Priya Malik and Dipanshi (50 kg) both lost their opening bouts.
Priya lost to world silver medallist Aiperi Medet Kyzy of Kyrgyzstan in the opening bout at 76kg. Priya made it 2-1 in the second period, but Medet Kyzy worked hard on a takedown to lead 4-1. Priya went for the big throw at the end but Medet Kyzy fell on top and got the pin.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympics champion and home favourite Yui Ssaki of Japan got her campaign for a first Asian Games gold to go with her four Asian titles off to a hot start, knocking off Indian youngster Dipanshi 11-0.
Susaki then needed just 44 seconds to book her place in the semifinals with a 10-0 TSU win, whitewashing Samnang Dit of Cambodia. The four-time world champion then defeated Zeinep Bayanova of Kazakhstan to enter the final.
Meanwhile, with Susaki reaching the finals, Dipanshi got a revival as she entered the repechage round and earned a chance to fight for a bronze.
In the repechage against Cambodia’s Samnang Dit, Dipanshi registered a technical superiority (10-0) and will play for a bronze medal against Zeinep Bayanova of Kazakhstan.
(IANS)
