Sushil Kumar, Sakshi Malik win Gold at Commonwealth Wrestling Championships

Johannesburg: Double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar clinched a gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships here in South Africa on Sunday. Returning to international wrestling after more than three years, Sushil defeated New Zealand’s Akash Khullar via a pinfall in the final of the 74kg freestyle category to clinch the yellow metal.

Another Olympic medallist, Sakshi Malik, who won a bronze in the 2016 Rio Games, also clinched a gold medal in the championships. She defeated New Zealand’s Tayla Tuahine Ford by a score of 13-2 in the final of the 62kg women’s freestyle category.

The other gold medals winners in the freestyle category for India on Sunday were Utkarsh Kale (57kg), Sharvan (61kg), Bajrang (65kg), Amit Dhankar (70kg), Jitender (79kg), Deepak (86kg), Somveer (92kg), Rubaljeet Singh (97kg) and Hitender (125kg).

Rahul Aware (61kg), Arun Kumar (70kg), Praveen Rana (74kg), Veer Dev Gulia (79kg), Pawan Kumar (86kg), Mausam Khatri (97kg) and Sumit (125kg) won silver medals, while the bronze medals went to Sonu (65kg) and Azrudeen (92kg).

India returned with a total of 29 gold, 24 silver and 6 bronze medals from the Championships.