Wrestler Sumit Malik bags 125kg gold

Gold Coast (Australia) : Indian wrestler Sumit Malik won the 125 kilogram freestyle title at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Sumit won all his four bouts in the Nordic (round robin) format to emerge champion.

Korey Jarvis of Canada got the silver while Pakistan’s Tayab Raza took the bronze.

India got another medal when Somveer bagged bronze in the men’s 86kg division.

Somveer defeated Alexander Moore of Canada 7-3 in the play-off for the bronze medal.

Sumit had started his campaign with a victory over Cameroon’s Claude Mbianga who had to pull out of the bout due to an injury. Mbianga had picked up the injury during his previous bout against Jarvis.

The Indian beat Jarvis in his second bout. It was an absorbing contest between two wrestlers who matched each other in both strength and technique.

The Canadian took the first point with a push out which gave him a 1-0 lead at the break. The contest came alive in the second round as both wrestlers picked up the tempo.

The Indian displayed impressive strength and technique to take the lead with a two-point takedown before pulling off a four-point move.

Although Jarvis picked up three more points in the second period, it did not prove to be enough.

Sumit then thrashed Raza 10-4 to keep himself on track for the gold medal. Sumit was gifted a walkover by Sinivie Boltic of Nigeria in his last bout which handed him the title.

In the men’s 86kg competition, Somveer had started his campaign with a comfortable victory over Taebontangaroa Kookoo of Kiribati in the first round.

Somveer had taken a 4-0 lead in the opening round of that bout before pinning his opponent to the mat to win by fall.

He then crashed out of gold medal contention after losing to Pakistan’s Muhammed Inam in the quarter-finals.

Somveer lost by technical superiority as his opponent built up a 10-0 lead in the first round.

Updated : April 14, 2018, 14:10 IST

IANS