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Asian Wrestling Championships: Divya Kakran, Sarita clinch gold medal on Day 3 Indian women start on a bright note

Divya Kakran started India's tally with a gold medal in freestyle by clinching the yellow metal in the 68kg category on Thursday (February 20) as Indian women started their campaign in the Asian Wrestling Championships on a positive note.

Asian Wrestling Championships: Divya Kakran, Sarita clinch gold medal on Day 3 Indian women start on a bright note

New Delhi, Feb 20: Divya Kakran started India's tally with a gold medal in freestyle by clinching the yellow metal in the 68kg category on Thursday (February 20) as Indian women started their campaign in the Asian Wrestling Championships on a positive note. While Sarita also bagged a gold medal as she overpowered Mongolia's Battseteg Atlantsetseg in the 59kg final.

Gold Medal for Kakran

Kakran - who bagged a Commonwealth Games gold for India - shed tears of joy after clinching the gold for host India while compatriots advanced to three of the four other finals.

Kakran - who was termed as one of the favourites in the competition - won all four of her matches by fall at which, with just five entries, is being held in a round-robin format. With no matches remaining in the night session, she secured her first Asian gold after finishing third in 2019 and second in 2017.

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Kakran's key victory came in the fourth round of matches over reigning world junior champion Naruha Matsuyuki of Japan when she was losing 4-4 on criteria but locked up her opponent's arms from the bottom and tipped her over backwards to secure a fall at 4:20.

"That's my best move," Kakran told media persons through tears. "Before coming here, I thought that I wanted to pin everyone."

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She began her domination by routing Kazakhstan's Albina Kairgelinova and then knocked out Mongolia's Delgermaa Enkkhsaikhan. Her defence looked a bit shaky against the Mongolian but she still managed to pin her rival.

In the third round, Divya was up against Uzbekistan's Azoda Esbergenova. She went up 4-0 with brilliant consecutive rolls and then pinned her opponent to finish it off in just 27 seconds.

Against the Japanese junior world champion, with her strong left-leg attacks, Divya led 4-0 with a takedown and an expose move. The Japanese made a solid start in the second period as she attacked the Indian's left leg initially but scored points with a right leg move to make it 4-4.

However, Divya soon effected a move which led to her victory by fall. She jumped off the mat to celebrate with her coaches before the referee officially declared her winner. Divya had won a bronze at last year's Asian Championships.

Sarita brings second gold for India on Day 3

Sarita, competing in her first Asian event since winning a silver in 2017 in 58kg, won her first two bouts by technical superiority against Madina Bakbergenova (Kazakhstan) and Nazira MarsbekKyzy (Kyrgyzstan) before winning 10-3 against Japan's Yuumi Kon.

Story first published: Thursday, February 20, 2020, 20:26 [IST]
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