Cricketers wish Bajrang Punia after he bags gold in the Asian Games

The 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta is currently underway and the Indian contingent is also gracing their presence in the event. After their resounding show in the Commonwealth Games earlier this year, a lot was expected of them. India bagged a couple of medals on the first day itself. Ravi Kumar, Apurvi Chandela gave India a bronze medal. However, the biggie came from Bajrang Punia.

He gave India their first gold medal in the men’s 65 kg Freestyle wrestling by beating Japan’s Takatani Daichi in the final. However, he had to strain in order to win the medal as 11-8 was the eventual result courtesy of an extra point after Daichi lost an appeal. Prior to the final, he had to beat three other Khasanov Sirojiddin (Uzbekistan), Fayziev Abdulqosim (Tajikistan) and Batchuluun Batmagnai (Mongolia).

Sehwag, Laxman, Kaif and many others wish Punia

Earlier in the day, Punia moved to the quarterfinal along with Sandeep Tomar. He came back from 0-3 down to win the next 13 points and eventually earned victory 13-3 by technical superiority over Khasanov. Thereafter, he beat Abdulqosim 12-2 to again leave his opponent behind by technical superiority to book a place in the semifinal.

He was the lone warrior to enter the semis and he didn’t let his fans down by defeating Batmagnai 10-0 to enter the finals. In the meantime, Sushil Kumar, the two-time Olympic medalist, bowed out in the 74 kg category. Meanwhile, Punia was showered with praises from every nook and corner of the sports fraternity for his stupendous performance on the first day.

Even the Indian cricketers lauded the wrestler for making the country proud. Indian cricketers like Mohammad Kaif, VVS Laxman, and Virender Sehwag wished him for the achievement.  The other participants would now want to add to India’s medal’s tally going ahead in the upcoming days of the championship.

Here is how the cricketing fraternity reacted

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