Asian Games: Sunil Kumar to play bronze medal bout following loss in 87 kg Greco-Roman semis
Oct 04, 2023
Hangzhou [China], October 4 : Indian wrestler Sunil Kumar registered a loss in the semifinals of the Greco-Roman 87 kg men's wrestling competition at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday, but will feature in the bronze medal match.
In the semis, he lost to Iran's Naser Alizadeh by 5-1 via Victory by Points (VPO1). He will now wrestle Atabek Azisbekov of Kyrgyzstan for a bronze medal.
Earlier, Sunil made it to the semifinals of the Greco-Roman 87 kg men's wrestling competition at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
First, in the pre-quarters match, he clinched a 4-3 win over China's Peng Fei. Then later on, he secured a massive 9-1 win over Tajikistan's Sukhrob Abdulkhaev in the quarterfinal, moving to the semifinals.
On the other hand, in his pre-quarters match, Neeraj registered a disappointing 3-5 loss to Uzbekistan's Makhmud Bakhshilloev in the Greco-Roman men's 67 kg category. In the pre-quarters of Greco-Roman men's 60 kg category, Gyanender went down to Iran's Meysam Dalkhani by 6-1.
Another Indian wrestler, Vikas also registered a 1-9 defeat to China's Rui Liu in the quarterfinals of the men's Greco-Roman 77 kg category.
Tokyo Olympics 2020 bronze medalist Bajrang Punia and reigning U20 World Champion are heading the country's freestyle wrestling contingent at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, with matches set to take place from October 4 to October 7. India will compete in all 18 medal events - six Greco-Roman, six men's freestyle and six women's freestyle.
Indian wrestling squad at Asian Games 2023
-Women’s freestyle: Pooja Gehlot (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Mansi Ahlawat
(57kg), Sonam Malik (62kg), Radhika (68kg), Kiran (76kg)
-Greco-Roman: Gyanender (60kg), Neeraj (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Narinder Cheema (97kg), Naveen (130kg)
-Men’s freestyle: Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Yash (74kg) Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky (97kg), Sumit (125kg).
