Asian Wrestling Championships: Divya Kakran claims a gold medal in style

Indian Wrestling star Divya Kakran on Thursday, won a gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships as she became the second Indian woman to achieve such feat as she showed her dominance in winning all her bouts by fall which includes a win over a junior World Champion, Narua Matsuyuki.

Divya displayed a brilliant strength in wrestling as she won all four bouts in the 68kg category in which the competition was fought in a round-robin format.

The first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Asian Championships was Navjot Kaur when she claimed victory in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in the (65kg) category.

Indians who were the hosts of the tournament had a great outing as Sarita Mor, who competed in the [59kg] category, Pinki [55kg], and Nirmala Devi [50kg] won at least silver medals in their various categories.

With the absence of wrestlers from China and Japan not sending quality wrestlers, Divya kicked off by defeating Kazakhstan’s Albina Kaireglinova before she dispatched Mongolia’s Delgermaa Enkksaikhan.

Divya’s defense was a little bit shaky in her bouts against Delgermaa. However, she still managed to make her stand to claim a win.

The third round saw Divya up against Azoda Esbergenova from Uzbekistan as she raced to a 4-0  straight win, rolling her opponent consecutively before pinning her opponent to round up a victory in just 27 seconds.

Divya faced the Japanese Junior world champion Narua Matsuyuki as her left leg was sharp in making waves of attacks to give her a 4-0 lead. The Japanese came to provide her with a fight in the second period as she attacked Divya’s left leg using her right leg as she equaled the score to 4-4. But somehow Divya nicked a win in the dying seconds of the bout to make it 5-4. She couldn’t hide her excitement as she jumped at her coaches, who, in return, congratulated her.

Written by: Olumide Akinnifesi