Wrestling Nationals, Day 1: Haryana grabs lion’s share of medals

Wrestling Nationals, Day 1: Haryana grabs lion’s share of medals

As expected, Haryana grabbed the lion’s share of the gold medals on the opening day of the Senior National Wrestling Championship at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium here on Friday, with its athletes winning four of the 10 men’s freestyle events.

Amidst a cacophony of sounds, dance programmes, folk music and endless felicitations, 25-year-old Anuj Kumar, a former U-23 national champion and a senior Asian and World Championships participant in 2023, won the opening gold for Haryana in 70kg with an easy defeat of Services’ Sharwan 10-2. Siddharth (65kg), Amit (79kg) and Sachin (92kg) followed.

Local lad Rohan Narayan got the home fans excited with a run to the 74kg final and even took a 4-0 lead over Services’ Jaideep. But the latter turned it around in emphatic fashion, winning 14-4.