New Delhi: Amit Kumar Dhankar on MOnday assured India of one more medal after reaching the finals of the 66kg category at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship here.
Amit, who is star Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar's replacement in this competition, came from behind to prevail over Uzbekistan's Ruslan Pliev to set up a gold medal bout to be played later in the day.
Ruslan won the first round in the final seconds much to the disappointment of the home crowd at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Stadium. The Uzbek started the next round also on a high and took 2-0 lead. He further went on to tighten his grip on the match by making it 4-1.
But just when it looked the semi-final was tilted one way, Amit made a splendid comeback and completed a successful throw down in the last 30 seconds to take the match to final round.
Ruslan looked a bit in discomfort after he sustained a shoulder injury in the process. In the last round, Amit twice dragged his opponent out of the mat to take complete control of the match. He then put on a fine display of attacking moves to take a 4-0 lead.
With 30 seconds left, injured Ruslan conceded the match as he looked in unbearable pain. Amit won the bout 0-1, 4-4, 4-0 and will face Mongolia's M Ganzorig in the finals.
The hosts can expect to get another medal on MOnday as Narsingh Pancham Yadav (84kg) entered the bronze medal bout through a repechage match. He breezed past Iraq's Ali Husham Majeed 6-0, 8-0 through technical fall.
Praveen (74kg) lost in the quarter-finals of the 74kg freestyle event, while Pravesh (96kg) failed to clear the first hurdle in the championships.
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