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Rediff.com  » Sports » Yogeshwar, Babita give India two more gold
This article was first published 9 years ago

Yogeshwar, Babita give India two more gold

Last updated on: August 01, 2014 04:55 IST

Image: Yogeshwar Dutt of India celebrates after beating Jevon Balfour of Canada
Photographs: PTI

Olympics bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and Babita Kumari easily won gold medals as India's wrestlers continued to rule the roost by bagging two gold medals on the eighth day of the 20th Commonwealth Games.

While Yogeshwar (men's 65kg freestyle) and Babita Kumari (women's 55kg) won gold, Geetika Jhakar (women's 63kg) failed to match her compatriots and settled for a silver.

It was good news for India in other disciplines as well as young Dipa Karmarkar scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games by bagging a bronze in the vault event.

By virtue of the two gold and Dipa's bronze medal, India consolidated their sixth position in medal standings with a total haul of 44 medals -- 12 gold, 19 silver and 13 bronze.

Medals tally: 2014 Commonwealth Games

Complete coverage of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games

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Yogeshwar had it easy

Image: Yogeshwar Dutt
Photographs: PTI

The Indians enjoyed a good day on the final day of the wrestling competition as Yogeshwar hardly broke sweat en route to his gold medal by using his trademark 'fitele' (leg-twisting) technique to great effect.

He first beat Alex Gladkov of Scotland 4-0 and then easily defeated another Scottish wrestler, Gareth Jones, in the quarter-finals by employing the same leg-twisting technique he used while winning bronze in the London Olympics.

In the semi-finals, Yogeshwar successfully used his favourite technique again to get the better of Sri Lanka's Chamara Perera in just two minutes and three seconds.

He scored a 5-0 verdict after taking a 10-0 lead on technical points.

He continued his dominance in the final and made light work of Canada's Jevon Balfour to clinch the gold medal in just 1:53 seconds.

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'The 'fitele' technique had won him a bronze'

Image: Yogeshwar Dutt of India defeats Chamara Perera of Sri Lanka in the semi-final of the 65kg men's Wrestling at Scottish Exhibition And Conference Centre
Photographs: Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Coach Vinod Kumar later said he was happy about Yogeshwar making good use of his technique.

"The 'fitele' technique had won him a bronze in 2012 London Olympics. There is another technique 'kheme' and with that you can turn around your body and get yourself over your opponent. Then he (Yogeshwar) used the 'fitele'," he said.

Geetika was trailing initially in her 63kg freestyle opening bout against Epanga Metala of Cameroon but came back strongly to win 5-0 in two minutes and 45 seconds.

In the semi-finals against Sarah Connolly of Wales, she took the early advantage and threw her opponent out of the mat twice.

The Indian led 9-2 in the first period of three minutes and then the referee stopped the bout after Geetika was ahead 12-2.

She won 4-1 and booked a place in the final.

- ...

Babita completely dominated her gold medal bout against Laverdure

Image: Babita Kumari celebrates after winning gold
Photographs: PTI

Iit all started with Babita, who completely dominated her gold medal bout against Brittanee Laverdure to seal the contest 9-2 and give India its first yellow metal of the day.

However, it was some sort of disappointment for India in the women's 63kg as Geetika was no match for her Candian opponent, Danielle Lappage. The world junior champion overpowered the Indian grappler 7-0 to pocket the gold with consummate ease.

- ...

Tagziev too strong for Pawan Kumar

Image: Pawan Kumar
Photographs: PTI

The Indian then overpowered Luigi Bianco of Scotland 5-0 in a victory by fall verdict in just one minute and 16 seconds to book a place in the semi-finals.

Pawan was, however, no match to Tamerlan Tagziev of Canada in the semi-finals and lost in a victory by fall verdict in two minutes and 35 minutes.

He had won gold in the 2013 Commonwealth Championships in Johannesburg in 84kg freestyle.