Bishkek: World U23 champion Sujeet and Abhimanyou registered contrasting victories in their respective men’s freestyle final bouts to help India clinch two gold medals on the penultimate day of the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships here on Saturday.
Sujeet, who has been unbeaten so far this year, totally dominated the men’s 65kg freestyle final against Umidjon Jalolov of Uzbekistan to register an 8-1 win and become the first Indian since Bajrang Punia’s 2019 triumph to win the Asian Championships gold medal in this weight category.
Sujeet started slow in the opening round as Jalolov held his ground and did not allow the Indian to attack. But the 23-year-old India was quick off the blocks at the start of the second round and went on to register his fifth victory over the Uzbek wrestler.
A few minutes later, Abhimanyou made it a double celebration for the Indian camp as he fought back from 0-2 deficit to beat Tulga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia 5-3 in the men’s 70kg freestyle final.
Sandeep Mann had the chance to complete a hat-trick of gold medals for India but he went down 1-2 in a closely contested final bout in the men’s 79kg category.