Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], October 2 (ANI): India’s men’s recurve team defeated Iran 6-0 to enter the final, while wrestler Sujeet Kalkal stunned reigning Olympic champion and home favourite Kotaro Kiyooka to reach the men’s freestyle 65kg gold medal bout.
Dhiraj Bommadevara, Neeraj Chauhan and Yashdeep Bhoge produced a dominant performance against Iran in the semifinal, winning all three sets to book their place in the gold medal contest against South Korea, according to ESPN.
India began strongly, taking the opening set 58-53 after posting scores of 9, 10 and 10 in the first half and repeating the same combination in the second rotation.
The Indian trio then extended their advantage by winning the second set 56-53. Neeraj and Yashdeep shot 9s before Dhiraj finished with a 10 to give India a 4-0 lead.
Iran put up a stronger challenge in the third set, leading 29-28 at the halfway stage. However, India responded effectively, with Neeraj shooting a 10, Yashdeep a 9 and Dhiraj a 9 to finish on 56, while Iran ended on 55.
India’s victory set up a final against South Korea.
Sujeet also produced one of India’s most notable results of the day, defeating Japan’s Kiyooka 3-3 on criteria in the men’s freestyle 65kg semifinal.
Kiyooka, the reigning Olympic champion, led 2-0 after the first period, but Sujeet fought back strongly in the second to score three points. With the bout level at 3-3, the Indian was awarded the victory for scoring the final point and advanced to the gold medal bout.
Sujeet had earlier defeated Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai in the round of 16 and Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi in the quarterfinal.
He will face Tajikistan’s Abdulmazid Kudiev in the final later on Friday.
India also kept its medal hopes alive in women’s wrestling, with Dipanshi reaching the 50kg bronze medal bout after beating Cambodia’s Dit Samnang 10-0 by technical superiority in the repechage. She will face Kazakhstan’s Zeinep Bayanova for the bronze.
The day had already brought India a gold through Lovlina Borgohain, who defeated China’s Bao Ziyi 5-0 in the women’s 75kg boxing final on her 29th birthday.
India also won the women’s recurve team gold through Kumkum Mohod, Ankita Bhakat and Kirti, while Kumkum and Dhiraj secured silver in the mixed recurve team event.
Sailing’s Nethra Kumanan added a bronze in the women’s dinghy, while Vishnu Saravanan finished fourth in the men’s dinghy.
India’s other results on the day included a 3-1 win over South Korea in the men’s volleyball classification match for fifth to eighth places and a 26-5 victory over Malaysia in the women’s rugby sevens pool match.
In wrestling, Rajat Ruhal and Priya were eliminated in the men’s 125kg and women’s 76kg events respectively, while in track cycling David Beckham advanced to the men’s keirin semifinal and Ronaldo Singh was eliminated in the repechage. (ANI)
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