BIRMINGHAM: Star Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia clinched Gold Medal for India after winning the final against Canada's Lachlan Mcneil in men's 65 kg at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 at Birmingham on Friday.
Punia was extremely dominant in the first period and did not let his opponent score. He finished with a 4-0 lead over McNeil at the end of the first period.
But McNeil made a comeback with a strong effort and he cut down the deficit by two points to make it 2-4. Punia took the lead once again after scoring two more points. The Indian did not look back from there and won the match 9-2.
Punia reached the final after defeating George Ramm of England in the semi-final. He defeated his English opponent 10-0.
He had reached the semi-final of the men's freestyle 65 kg category after defeating Jean Guyliane Joris Bandou of Mauritius in the quarter-final. Bajrang was at his very best in the match as he gained a 6-0 win by fall. The match lasted for just one minute.
Meanwhile, Sakshi Malik clinched country's third medal in wrestling of the day at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham by defeating Ana Paula Godinez Gonzalez in the finals of women's freestyle 62 kg category on Friday.
The Canadian Gonzalez was dominating the match initially as she gained a 0-4 lead in the first period. Then in the second period, Malik scripted an entire comeback to equal the scores 4-4 and won the match via fall. The match lasted for 3 minutes and 47 seconds.
Malik entered the finals by defeating Etane Ngolle of Cameroon by 10-0 on basis of technical superiority.
Sakshi Malik defeated Kelsey Barnes of England by 10-0 via fall in the quarterfinal of the Women's Freestyle 62 kg to enter the semi-finals.
Indian grappler Deepak Punia too won a gold medal in the Men's Freestyle 86kg category in the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022. He defeated Pakistan's Muhammad Inam at the Coventry Arena Wrestling Mat B on Friday.
Punia won the gold medal match 3-0. Punia bagged India's third wrestling gold at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
The Indian grappler took 2-0 lead in the first period and all the pressure was on the Punia's opponent heading into the last three minutes.
Punia was in good form in this match. In the final three minutes, he managed to hold his own and he kept his opponent at bay to walk away with the gold.
The Pakistani wrestler struggled to find a way through Punia's strong defence and went home without scoring a point.