Asian Wrestling Championships: Harpreet Singh makes dramatic comeback to win Bronze

What's the story?

Harpreet Singh claimed India’s second medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships which is currently being held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In a dramatic fashion, he came back in the Bronze medal match of the 82-kg Greco-Roman Men’s category to defeat Uzbekistan's Nurbek Khasimbekov.

In case you didn't know...

The Asian Wrestling Championships which started on February 27 are being hosted at the Kohhomkul Sports Palace, in Bishkek. The mega event will conclude till March 4.

The heart of the matter

The Indian was trailing 1-3 with just two minutes left on the clock but soon he grabbed his competitor and rolled him over on the mat to score a series of two points to gain a mammoth lead of 8 points. Eventually, he defeated Khasimbekov 11-3 to clinch the bronze medal.

With this medal, India have already doubled the tally in the Greco-Roman category. Earlier, Rajender Kumar grabbed India’s first medal in the ongoing meet when he edged past Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Mirakhmedov in the 55-kg bronze medal bout.

What's next?

Harpreet was also the first Indian to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics in the Greco-Roman category. Not only that, Harpreet also won India’s first medal of the Asian Championships which was held in New Delhi last year on the opening day of the event. Time will tell whether India will manage to win some more medals in the next few days.

Author's take

The Greco-Roman category is not a very strong area of expertise for the Indian wrestlers but the grapplers have shown constant improvement. Hopefully, by the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, India's contingent will have more Greco-Roman wrestlers. It will also enhance the country's chances of winning more medals at the showpiece event.