Sakshi Malik bags gold at Commonwealth Wrestling Championships

Johannesburg, December 18: Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik clinched gold at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg on Sunday (December 17).

Sakshi, who won a bronze in the 2016 Rio Games defeated New Zealand's Tayla Tuahine Ford 13-2 in the final of the 62kg women's freestyle category to add another yellow metal for India.

Got gold in commonwealth championship 🥇🇮🇳 South Africa 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/LNTox9PF2F

— Sakshi Malik (@SakshiMalik) December 17, 2017

Earlier, Sushil Kumar on his his return to competitive wrestling won a gold medal in the final of the men's 74 kilogram freestyle category, beating South African favourite Johannes Petrus.

Sushil dominated his South African opponent, giving him no chance to make any sort of headway in the wrestling bout, and won 8-0 quite easily. With the win he clinched his fifth title at the Commonwealth level.

#जयहिंद 🇮🇳 #Commonwealthwrestlin #SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/9YAgkzvoXC

— Sushil Kumar (@WrestlerSushil) December 17, 2017

The Indians dominated most of the weight categories in the men's freestyle with Bajrang (65kg), Jitender (79kg) and Sumit (125kg) also winning gold in their respective events.

Hitender (125kg), Somveer (92kg) and Jitender (79kg) had to be content with bronze medals.

The Indian women also imposed total domination in the competition, winning gold in each of the 10 weight categories.

Apart from Malik, Kiran (72kg), Divya Kakran (68kg) and Ritu Malik (65kg) emerged champions in their respective categories, while Pooja (76kg) and Ravita (59kg) finished with silver medals. Kavita (76kg) and Manu Tomar (72kg) took bronze.

(With inputs from agencies)