Almaty, June 5: Bajrang Punia got his act together to claim a bronze medal after ultra-defensive tactics resulted in his opening-round defeat even as Aman claimed his first gold medal at the senior level with a commanding show in the 57kg competition at the Bolat Turlykhanov Cup, here Sunday.
Bajrang, the Tokyo Games bronze winner, struggled in his opening bout against Uzbekistan’s Abbos Rakhmonov, losing 3-5 but competed much better in the bronze-play off where scored on counter-attacks against Kazkahstan’s Rifat Saibotalov, winning 7-0.
Bajrang was quick with his movements that was key in his mix of defence and attack in the crucial bout.
Earlier, the overtly defensive tactics that Bajrang has been adopting, of late, continued against Rakhmonov and paid the price.
Bajrang thought the referee whistled to halt an action but Rakhmonov grabbed the opportunity to launch a leg attack and eventually got a decisive two points.
Later Rakhmonov reached the final, with the opportunity to fight for bronze.
In 57kg, Aman, who trains at Chhatrasal stadium with Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Ravi Dahiya, was very impressive.
In his final bout, he edged out Kazakhstan’s Merey Bazarbayev 10-9 to stay unbeaten in the five-wrestler category to claim gold. India signed off with 12 medals from the Ranking Series event with the women’s wrestlers claiming eight of them, including five gold. (PTI)
