Gold Coast: There was no stopping the gold rush in wrestling as two more were added to the tally by Vinesh Phogat (50kg) and Sumit (125kg) but Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik (62kg) had to be content with a third place finish in the Commonwealth Games here.
Adding another bronze to the count on Saturday was Somveer, in the 86kg category.
India signed off their wrestling campaign at the Games with five gold, three silver and four bronze medals. The overall count was one less than the medals achieved in the 2014 edition of the Games but India kept their gold medal count at five, the number achieved the last time.
Sakshi went out of gold medal contention in the first round itself after losses to Canada’s Michelle Fazzari and Nigeria’s Aminat Adeniyi following a win over Cameroon’s Berthe Ngolle.
But she gathered herself after the setback to defeat New Zealand’s Tayla Ford 6-5 in a close bout to avoid going without a medal. The heartbreak of missing the gold left her in tears during the medal ceremony.
However, Vinesh continued her tremendous comeback to big-ticket wrestling. The 23-year-old, who had sustained a career-threatening injury during the Rio Olympics, was in complete control of proceedings from her first bout.
“When I saw Neeraj take the gold in javelin throw, I felt very inspired and wanted to claim one for myself,” Vinesh said. She won two of her three bouts on technical superiority, raising 10-point leads before her rivals could open their accounts.
Sumit, on the other hand, competed in thee bouts but didn’t have to fight for the gold medal after his Nigerian rival Sinivie Boltic pulled out of the bout citing injury.
