Narsingh Yadav, a 22-year-old milkman’s son from Mumbai, won a gold medal for India in the Asian Wrestling championship by overcoming fancied Saeed Riahi in the final of the 74kg freestyle category.
Yadav, a product of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre at Kandivali, was tied 1-1 in two rounds of the final but was declared winner of both rounds on the basis of technical superiority.
“The final was the toughest bout for me but I had studied Riahi throughout the day and was ready to take him on. This is a very big day for me and I would like to dedicate this medal to my country,” said the shy lad, a substitute for Ramesh Kumar, considered the top wrestler of the country in this category.
India’s chief freestyle coach Jagminder Singh said he was always confident of bagging a gold in this category. “Very little separates the two wrestlers. Narsingh and Ramesh have beaten each other regularly in practice matches. Narsingh won a silver at a world level competition in Minsk earlier this year beating an Olympic medalist in the process. So, he was always in contention for a gold,” said Jagminder.
Narsingh earlier beat Ilgiz Dzhakypbekov of Kyrgyzstan to enter the quarterfinals, overcame Uzbek Ablokulov Murodillo to make the semifinals and then got past Osmanov Seifaddin of Kazakhstan to make the title round.
