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NEW DELHI: Wrestler Bajrang Punia gave India its first gold medal at the 18th edition of the Asian Games with an 11-8 victory over Japan's Takatani Daichi in the men's freestyle 65 kg final in Jakarta on Sunday.
Bajrang, who got a bye in the first round, won all three bouts by technical superiority, asserting his class in the 65kg category.
He outclassed Uzbekistan's Sirojiddin (13-3), Tajikistan's Fayziev Abdulqosim (12-2) and Mongolia's N Batmagnai Batchuluu (10-0) to storm into the gold medal bout.
Earlier, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar (74kg), Mausam Khatri (97kg) and Sandeep Tomar (57kg) crashed out of the event.
Sushil, who was exempted from the Asiad trials, lost 3-5 to Bahrain's Adam Batirov in the 74 kg category. He had come into the Games after losing his first bout in four years.
Bajrang, who clinched his maiden Asian Games gold, started off with a convincing 6-0 lead before Daichi made it 4-6 in the first period. Both wrestlers endured a tough battle in the second period but in the end Bajrang held his nerves to emerge victorious.
Bajrang had won silver in the 61 kg category four years ago at the Incheon Asian Games.
The 24-year-old Indian had won three consecutive international gold medals - CWG (Gold Coast), Tbilisi Grand Prix (Georgia) and Yasar Dogu International (Istanbul) - ahead of the Asian Games.
Bajrang, who got a bye in the first round, won all three bouts by technical superiority, asserting his class in the 65kg category.
He outclassed Uzbekistan's Sirojiddin (13-3), Tajikistan's Fayziev Abdulqosim (12-2) and Mongolia's N Batmagnai Batchuluu (10-0) to storm into the gold medal bout.
Earlier, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar (74kg), Mausam Khatri (97kg) and Sandeep Tomar (57kg) crashed out of the event.
Sushil, who was exempted from the Asiad trials, lost 3-5 to Bahrain's Adam Batirov in the 74 kg category. He had come into the Games after losing his first bout in four years.
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