Asian Wrestling Championships: India Wins 3 Medals In Astana

India made a strong start to the tournament at the Asian Wrestling Championships, when Rupin, Neeraj & Sunil Kumar won medals in Astana.

The Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 is the 36th edition of Asian Wrestling Championships of multiple sports events. The championship is scheduled to take place from 9 to 14 April in Astana, Kazakhstan.

India had a great opening day at the Asian Wrestling Championships on Sunday thanks to young grappler Rupin, who won a silver medal in the 55kg Greco Roman division, earning him his first senior-level international medal.

The 19-year-old Rupin finished in second place, and Neeraj (63 kg GR) and Sunil Kumar (87 kg GR) won bronze.

Rupin entered the summit match from the preliminary round with an advantage of three consecutive victories before losing 1-3 against Iranian Poya Soulat Dad Marz.

Rupin, who won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Cadet Championships, began his campaign by defeating Sardorbek of Kyrgyzstan 16-7 by technical dominance.

Then, in the quarterfinals and semifinals, he defeated Amangali Rahimbayev of Kazakhstan and Zhang Haifeng of China, respectively.

Neeraj, 16, won the bronze medal in the 63 kg weight class by defeating South Korea’s Jinseub Song 5-2, while Sunil Kumar won the bronze medal in the 87 kg weight class by defeating Japan’s Masato Sumi 4-1.

Neeraj defeated Dastan Kadyrov of Kyrgyzstan 7-6 in the preliminary round. He was defeated by Imam Hossein Khoon Mohammadi of Iran 0-9 in the quarterfinal, but after Mohammadi advanced to the final, he was given a second shot by repechage.

The Indian seized the chance and defeated Song in the bronze medal match. In the quarterfinals, Sunil Kumar, a former Asian Championships gold medalist, defeated Tajikistan’s Aslamov by a score of 9-1 due to technical superiority.

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