Rajender Kumar bagged India’s first medal at the Asian Wrestling championship in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, when he fought back from a three point deficit to beat Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Mirakhmedov in the 55-kg Greco-Roman category medal bout.
The 32-year-old, who won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, was staring at a defeat with two minutes left, but came up with a strong showing to level scores at 3-3 and was awarded the bout for winning the last point.
Rajendra, who is making a comeback to the international circuit after a gap of couple of years, had to go through the qualifying round in Bishkek and lost his quarter-final bout against eventual champion, Shota Tanokura of Japan.
He then defeated Tajikistan’s Khasan Sufiev 8-0 in the repechage round before bagging the bronze medal against Mirakhmedov. While Rajendra finished on the podium, two other Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers – Vikram Kurade and Navin Sevlia – exited with defeats.
Kurade, who hails from Kolhapur, lost his bronze medal match against Khazakastan’s Mirambek Ainagulov 9-0 in the 63kg category while Navin was beaten 3-1 by China’s Xiaoming Nie in the 130+kg category at the same stage.
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