The Indian grappler controlled the proceedings right from the start and never let her opponent make a comeback.
It was another India vs Australia fight which went India’s way. Geeta became the first Indian woman to win a Commonwealth Games wrestling title on Thursday when she clinched the 55kg freestyle gold beating Emily Bensted.
She beamed at the crowd in the Indira Gandhi arena as she received her medal. “I won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Championships and I managed to get one here,” she said. “But since I’m the first female gold medallist from India (in wrestling) at the Commonwealth Games, it is special to me.”
The 21-year old displayed nimble footwork combined with upper body strength
and pure aggression. Geeta dominated the early exchanges and threw her opponent to the mat twice but was unable to pin her.
She forced Bensted out to go 3-0 up, spurring the crowd into chants of “India, India” and winning the session. The Indian piled on the agony in the second with a clinical throw for three points before wrestling her opponent to the floor again for a single.
Geeta had her opponent down once more before pinning her to the mat to win with a dominating scoreline of 11-0.
“I observed her in the period and pretty soon I discovered that her defence was pretty weak and I decided to attack her,” Geeta said of her opponent.
“I had two chapaatis and vegetables with a glass of juice for breakfast. Maybe this provided me with the energy to win gold.”
Olympic champion Carol Huynh showed why she is a true champion. Despite not being able to see after losing her contact lenses, a half-blind Huynh went on instinct and aggression to down home favourite Nirmala Devi 7-3 in the 48kg final.
“I’ve fought her a few times before but she never came out that strong,” Huynh said. “She took me by surprise but I kept my confidence and finally won. I lost my contact lenses during the fight, so everything was a bit fuzzy.”
Results
48kg: Gold: Carol Huynh (Can), Silver: Nirmala Devi (Ind), Bronze: Odunayo Adekuroye (Ngr)
55kg: Gold: Geeta (Ind), Silver: Emily Bensted (Aus), Bronze: Lovina Edward (Ngr)
63kg: Gold: Justine Bouchard (Can), Silver: Blessing Oborududu (Ngr), Bronze: Suman Kundu (Ind)
72kg: Gold: Ohenewa Akuffo (Can), Silver: Annabel Laure Ali (Cmr), Bronze: Hellen Okus (Ngr)
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