Those winning strokes! Neeraj Chopra, Sumit Malik and Vinesh Phogat assert gold in Commonwealth Games

NewsBharati    14-Apr-2018
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Gold Coast, April 14: Claiming the gold thrown by becoming the first Indian javelin thrower to claim a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, with a season’s best effort of 86.47m in the final. Apart from this, India claimed the gold rush in wrestling as well. Indian wrestler Sumit Malik claimed the gold medal in the men’s freestyle 125 kg after his opponent Nigeria’s Sinivie Boltic was ruled out of the final due to an injury at the 21st Commonwealth Games.

 

The 20-year-old junior world champion had made the final after achieving the qualifying mark in his very first throw on Friday.

 

Neeraj was favourite for gold after his 85.94m throw last month at Patiala during the Federation Cup National Championships.

 

Chopra's first throw resulted in him hitting a mark of 85.50 meters that catapulted him to gold medal position. Despite faltering in his second attempt and hitting a mark of 84.78 in his third, Chopra bettered his own score with a winning effort of 86.47 meters in his fourth. The other Indian in the fray, Vipin Kashana, finished fifth with a best of 77.87.

The field had been depleted after Olympics and world silver medallist Julius Yego of Kenya failed to qualify for final round, while 2012 Olympic champion and Rio Games bronze winner Keshorn Walcott opted out of the CWG.

Indian wrestler Sumit Malik claimed the gold medal in the men’s freestyle 125 kg after his opponent Nigeria’s Sinivie Boltic was ruled out of the final due to an injury at the 21st Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast on Saturday.

 

Sumit defeated Pakistan’s Tayab Raza 10-4 in a dramatic bout.

It turned out to be an pulsating contest as Sumit was leading early on but Raza came back to reduce the deficit to 2-3 after attacking the Indian’s legs.

However, Sumit didn’t allow his rival to dominate as he displayed incredible athleticism, hopping around the mat to avoid stepping outside the bound after Raza once again had grabbed his leg. The Indian counterattacked and eventually won comfortably with a big margin.

 

Vinesh Phogat, defeated Rupinder Kaur of Australia in the 50kg freestyle to enter final, while Somveer defeated Australia’s Jayden Lawrence 7-0 for a victory by fall in the 86kg freestyle repechage to go through to the bronze medal match.