Sunil Kumar brought laurels to the country by becoming the first man from India to win the Greco-Roman gold medal in 27 years.
Sunil Kumar wins gold in the men’s 87kg GR beating Kyrgyzstan’s Salidinov. This is the first Asian Championship GR gold for India in 27 years. Proud moment for India 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/1s18KRE2fu
— #PowerOfPeople 🇮🇳 (@PositiveIndia5) February 18, 2020
He defeated Azat Salidinov of Kyrgyzstan by a margin of 5-0 in the 87 kg category.
Congratulations!! #SunilKumar wins India’s first Asian Championships Greco-Roman gold in 27 years https://t.co/DJB7DPXzDQ
— Rukshmanii kumari (@KumariRukshmani) February 19, 2020
Congratulations wrestler #SunilKumar on winning the
— Dept of Sports MYAS (@IndiaSports) February 19, 2020
Greco-Roman gold🥇after 27 years for India at the Asian Championships. Sunil defeated his counterpart Azat Salidinov from Kyrgyzstan in the 87 kg category.
India is proud of you champion! 👏👏@KirenRijiju @FederationWrest pic.twitter.com/8PIz8IayqT
The final, which happened at KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, saw the Indian overpowering his opponent to become the first person to win the gold after Pappu Yadav in 1993.
Happy to learn that it was the first Asian Championships Gold medal in Greeco-Roman category for an Indian wrestler in last 27 years #SunilKumar
— Vice President of India (@VPSecretariat) February 19, 2020
A report from India Today quoted an elated Sunil Kumar as saying:
I am feeling happy to have earned India’s first Gold Medal today. I have worked really hard on my ground techniques and it feels good to have done better than my last year’s performance.
#Congratulations #SunilKumar for winning #Gold in 87-kg Greco Roman category in #AsianWrestlingChampionships 2020. Superb performance! Go Ahead #sports @CoachPoonia pic.twitter.com/CncDPO5KpV
— Dr. Krishna Poonia (@KrishnaPooniaIN) February 19, 2020
It is noteworthy that Sunil came from 1-8 down to win the semi-final 12-8, earlier. With his win he also made an upgrade on his performance last year where he won a silver.
