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Sunil Kumar opened India's medal account in the ongoing 2025 Senior Asian Championship in the city of Amman, Jordan.
On Tuesday, the 2025 Senior Asian Championship witnessed intense action as bouts in five weight categories of the Greco-Roman style took place. India's Sunil Kumar (87 Kg) performed remarkably to secure a bronze medal for the country by ousting China's Jiaxin Huang by a 3-1 scoreline. On his journey to the podium, Sunil defeated Tajikistani grappler Sukhrob AbdulKhaev with a stunning 10-1 victory but fell short in the semifinals against Iran's Yasin Ali Yazdi. He savoured the bitter taste of defeat in the final four stage as Yasin raced to a 3-1 win, ending Sunil's chances of taking a shot at the gold medal. Sunil's recent story of success marked his fifth senior medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships. He secured the silver medal in 2019 and ended India's 27-year-long wait for a gold medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Asian Championships in 2020. The Indian wrestler also clinched successive bronze medals in 2022 and 2023. At the Asian Games Hangzhou 2023, Sunil bagged India's first Asian Games medal in Greco-Roman wrestling since Ravinder Singh and Sunil Kumar Rana's bronze medal heroics at Guangzhou 2010. The remaining four Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers are Nitin (55kg), Umesh (63kg), Sagar Thakran (77kg), and Prem (130kg). Nitin, Umesh, and Prem failed to advance past their respective qualification rounds. Meanwhile, Sagar suffered a heartbreaking loss via technical superiority against Jordan's Amro Sadeh in the quarter-finals. The remaining five Greco-Roman wrestlers, featuring Sumit (60kg), Neeraj (67kg), Kuldeep Malak (72kg), Rahul (82kg), and Nitesh (97kg), will be in action on Wednesday. India's Paris 2024 Olympians Reetika Hooda (women's 76kg) and Antim Panghal (women's 53kg) will make their presence felt on the mat on Thursday and Friday, respectively. (ANI)
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