AMN / NEW DELHI
Haryana, acknowledged as one of the country’s biggest boxing bastions, also dominated the final day of wrestling competitions at the inaugural Khelo India School Games here at the KD Jadhav Stadium on Sunday winning seven of the ten finals. Haryana made a clean sweep of all three Greco-Roman boys finals and the three finals in Girls freestyle on Sunday.
The stars of the final day of wrestling were World-level wrestlers Sonam and Anshu, who put up fantastic performances to outshine their competitors.
With a ruthless performance, the 2017 World Cadet Wrestling 56kg class champion Sonam got the better of fellow Haryana wrestler Mansi in the 65kg category.
Anshu, a 60kg gold medalist at the 2017 World Cadet Championships, outperformed Karnataka’s Leena Antony in the same weight category here.
Another wrestler who caught the eye was Uttar Pradesh’s Gaurav Balyan. He won the sole gold medal for his State on Sunday after an intense fight with Haryana’s Rahul Solankar in the 69kg freestyle final. He helped apply a break on Haryana’s stream of medals. It was close match despite Balyan holding on to a slender lead throughout the bout.
Towards the end of the match, however, it did seem that his partner Solankar would catch up, but a last-second brilliance from Balyan ensured that he held on to his lead and ended up with gold.
With the National Cadet Championships coming up later this month, this batch of wrestlers will be looking to perform well in an effort to head to the Youth Olympics later this year. Preparation seems to be on track as quite a few big names lived up to the level of performance that was expected of them.
Results:
Boys
Freestyle:
69kg class: Gaurav Balyan (Uttar Pradesh) beat Rahul Solankar (Haryana). Bronze medals: Sanjeev Kumar (Maharashtra) and Rahul (Haryana).
76kg class: Ankit Vats (Delhi) beat Vetal Shelke (Maharashtra). Bronze medals: Sheeta Guliya (Delhi) and Ankit (Haryana).
85kg class: Joginder (Haryana) beat Kapil Phaeswal (Delhi). Bronze medals: Sunil Padatare (Karnataka) and Abhishek Kaushish (Punjab)
100kg class: Sahil (Punjab) beat Monu Dahiya (Delhi). Bronze medals: Ankit Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) and Prashant Suryavansi (Maharashtra).
Boys: Greco-Roman:
69kg class: Vikas (Haryana) beat Sachin (Haryana). Bronze medals: Shivanand S Bangi (Karnataka) and Lavnish (Uttar Pradesh).
85kg class: Ravi Malik (Haryana) beat Mehar Singh (Haryana). Bronze medals: Gautam (Punjab) and Rohit (Haryana).
100kg class: Nitiesh Kumar (Haryana) beat Nitiesh Kumar (Haryana). Bronze medals: Vicky (Haryana) and Sonu (Delhi).
Girls:
60kg class: Anshu (Haryana) beat Leena Antony (Karnataka). Bronze medals: Komal (Himachal Pradesh) and Srushti Bhosale (Maharashtra).
65kg class: Sonam (Haryana) beat Mansi (Haryana). Bronze medals: Vishranti Patil (Maharashtra) and Harshada Jadhav (Maharashtra).
70kg class: Ravita Kumari (Haryana) beat Pathan Sanofar (Gujarat). Bronze medals: Ashpreet Kaur (Punjab) and Varsha Chaudhry (Uttar Pradesh).