Indian women strike gold
Dominate with three gold at Asian Wrestling Championship
Divya Kakran led the pack with a stunning performance before Sarita Mor and Pinki grabbed gold in their respective categories as India dominated the opening day of women's competition at the Asian Wrestling Championship here on Thursday.
On a memorable day for the hosts, the Indian girls reached four out of five finals with Divya (68kg), Pinki (55kg) and Sarita (59kg) standing on top of the podium.
Nirmala Devi settled for a silver in 50kg while Kiran (76kg) was the only one to miss out on a medal.
The field, though, was a depleted one as the Chinese and Korean wrestlers are not competing and Japan have not sent their best grapplers.
"I had to win by fall to get five points from all my bouts because the Japanese was winning all her bouts by big margins, so I took a risk for big wins. My coach had said that I don't have to go for big throws all the time, but I went for it," said Divya.
"It did become tricky after I led 4-0 (in final). I was not in a great position (Naruha's lock) and it could have been very dangerous. But I took a risk and it paid off by God's grace."
Asked if the absence of Chinese wrestler helped, she replied in the affirmative.
"Yes, it did benefit. But if you have a five-wrestler group it becomes even tougher, you have to fight everyone and win big. I won 4 bouts within 2 hours. It was tough on the body but the good thing is I have improved on my range, I made all kinds of attacks, Irani, Kheme, single-led, double leg attacks."