Nagoya: Sujeet Kalkal underlined his growing supremacy in the men’s 65kg category, clinching the Asian Games gold in Nagoya Friday, while defeating an Olympic champion en route to the title to crown a stunning year of domination.
He had already beaten stronger Iranian and Japanese rivals on his way to the final, and there was no doubt that the 23-year-old Sujeet would bag his first Asian Games gold. But Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev made it challenging for the Indian.
Sujeet fell behind 2-9 but scored eight points in a row in a dramatic turnaround for a sensational victory.
Sujeet outclassed Afghanistan’s Sayed Omar Zazai by technical superiority (13-3) to begin his campaign and produced a clinical performance against Iran’s Abbas Ebrahimzadehsavadkouhi in the quarterfinal, winning by technical superiority without losing a point.
He then prevailed 3-3 on criteria against Japanese Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka in the semifinal.
PTI
