India end Asian Wrestling Championship 2020 campaign with record-breaking 20 medals

What’s the story?

India finished their campaign in the 2020 Asian Wrestling Championship with a record total of 20 medals – the country's highest tally of medals in the history of the Championships.

In case you didn’t know

India’s second-best tally is the 16 medals that they registered from the previous edition that was held in China. This edition, the Indian contingent won five gold medals, six silver medals and nine bronze medals.

The heart of the matter

India secured five gold medals this edition, with Ravi Dahiya's gold medal in the 57kg men’s freestyle category the first on the list, followed by Sunil Kumar (87kg) in Greco-Roman, Divya Kakran (68kg), Sarita Mor (59kg) and Pinki (55kg) in women’s competition.

The hosts also picked up six silver medals and nine bronze medals from this campaign with Sakshi Malik (65kg), Nirmala Devi (50kg), Satyawart Kadian (97kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Gaurav Baliyan (79kg) and Jitender Kumar (74kg) finishing as runners-up from their respective summit clashes.

Meanwhile, those who settled with the bronze are Arjun Halakurki, (55 kg), Ashu (67kg), Hardeep Singh (97kg), Vinesh Phogat (53kg), Gurusharan Kaur (72kg), Aditya Kundu (72kg), and Anshu Malik (57kg)

The wrestlers who won an Asian Championship medal for the first time are Divya Kakkran, Pinki, Sarita Mor, Ravi Dahiya and Sunil Kumar.

What’s next?

The biggest takeaway from India’s campaign is Jitender Kumar’s silver, which has assured him a place in the India team for the Olympic Qualifiers in Kyrgyzstan. His qualification for the qualifiers also means that two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar’s ticket to Tokyo will depend on how Kumar performs in Bishkek.

The senior Kumar has not been in a great run of form since the 2018 Asian Games, and thus hopes will be high from Jitender.