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Indian wrestler Sujeet Kalkal secured a historic gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games 2026, defeating Tajikistan's Abdulmazhid Kudiev in the men's freestyle 65kg final at Aichi-Nagoya on Friday.
Down and out at 2-9 with a minute and 40 seconds to go, Sujeet produced takedowns after takedowns, changing tides in his favour and sealing the gold medal with eleven seconds left. This is India's first Asiad gold in wrestling since gold medals by Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat at the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 edition, as per ESPN. This is India's 75rd medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, with 15 golds, 25 silver medals and 35 bronze medals. Abdulmazhid started on a positive note against the Indian, first throwing Sujeet out of the ring for two points, then getting hold of his legs for the other two, making it 4-0. However, Sujeet bounced back with a two-pointer, with both putting on a show in attacking wrestling. The Tajikistan wrestler continued to get points as Sujeet lost his balance during an attacking move and was down 2-5 in the first period of the fight. Abdulmazhid took Sujeet down, flipped him over for a four-pointer, taking a 9-2 lead. Sujeet managed a big takedown with a minute and 20 seconds left in the clash and followed it with another, cutting down the deficit to 6-9. The Indian continued to produce two-pointers, winning the bout with 11 seconds to go. Sujeet also produced one of India's most notable results of the day prior to the title clash, 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. (ANI)
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