Rajender Kumar leads Indian wrestlers’ medal rush

His favourite pastime is to watch World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). And like those bruised, battered stars on screen, he wanted a battle of his own one day. Rajender Kumar had his wish fulfilled on Wednesday.

Rajender led the wrestlers’ medal rush, winning gold in 55kg category Greco-Roman style by overpowering Pakistan’s Azhar Hussain 11-0 in a  one-sided yet entertaining final.

Meanwhile, Manoj Kumar (84kg) had to be content with a silver medal. Sunil Kumar and Dharmender Dalal bagged bronze medals in the 66kg and 120kg categories respectively.

But it was Rajender who stole the show in front of an almost-full arena. He raced to 5-0 lead in the opening period, flipping his Pakistani rival twice. Jolted by Rajender’s lead, Azhar came out on an aggressive mood in the second period and even brought blood from his opponent’s nose with some dangerous play.

“His technique wasn’t the best and was just throwing his arm around. That was dangerous but I don’t think that (hitting Rajender on nose) was deliberate. It happens in this sport,” coach Hargobind Singh said.

Despite suffering the hard blow Rajender kept his nerves and pinned his opponent in the second period to pocket the gold. He had earlier defeated Sri Lanka’s Kumara Yaparathna 14-0 in the qualification round and then outclassed Canadian Promise Mwenga, who won the bronze, 11-0 in the semifinal.

“It was pretty one-sided. We had prepared well for the Greco-Roman and were confident about the win. I am very happy with my effort today,” Rajender said.

Results: 55 kg: Rajender Kumar (Ind), Azhar Hussain (Pak), Promise Mwenga (Can); 66 kg: Myroslav Dykun (Eng), Jack Bond (Can), Sunil Kumar (Ind); 84 kg: Efionayi Agbonavbare (Ngr), Manoj Kumar (Ind), Dean van Zyl (RSA); 120 kg: Ivan Popov (Aus), Talaram Mamman (Ngr), Dharmendra Dalal (Ind)