New Delhi: Sujeet Kalkal made a spectacular comeback from 2-9 down in a dramatic 65kg final against Abdulmazhid Kudiev to win 10-9 and clinch the gold medal at the Asian Games.
He has been displaying his class at major championships and won gold at the Asian Championships earlier this year, giving an indication of things to come. The Asian Championships gold medallist has been on fire since the start of 65kg competition. Kudiev was quick with his leg attacks. In the second period, however, Sujeet was a different beast. He started collecting points through takedowns, and a flurry of attacks proved too much for Kudiev to defend. Sujeet showed the hunger to win the gold. With second remaining in the bout and still covering up for the deficit, he made one last attack and gave his all to bring Kudiev down for a famous victory. Still, he was facing the Japanese Olympic champion for the first time. In his first bout, too, he dominated Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai by technical superiority.
In the final, Tajikistan’s Kudiev dominated the first period and went 9-2 up with takedowns and pushouts. Fighting in a weight class where Bajrang Punia won a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, Sujeet has come into his own. Sujeet bounced back against Kiyooka too, winning 3-3 on criteria.
Sujeet beat two strong rivals—Japan’s Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka and Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi—earlier in the day to enter the final. Earlier, he defeated Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi in the quarterfinal, winning by technical superiority without conceding a point.
Shako, who guided Bajrang to that famous Asiad gold in 2018, where he beat Japan’s Daichi Takatani in the final, was in Sujeet’s corner in the final on Friday, and kept egging him on. His fast attacks stood out, which is something India’s foreign coach Shako Bentinidis has been working on with him. “He is a very good wrestler. He should be dominating opponents, but he is not attacking too much. He should attack more and he can attack. He has a good defence.
Given his talent, he should be dominating,” Bentinidis had told HT before leaving for Japan.
