Double-Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar (74kg) has added another medal to his kitty by winning the gold medal in the 21st Commonwealth Games today. Debutant Rahul Aware (57kg) added another gold medal. Indian wrestlers performed very well, contributing four medals on the opening day of the wrestling competition here.

Defending champion Sushil barely spent any time on the mat, his final lasting just a minute and 20 seconds, and claimed easy victories to claim his third successive gold at the Games, a love affair that began in 2010 Delhi edition.

However, another defending champion Babita Phogat (53kg) settled for a silver, while debutant Kiran happily flaunted a hard-earned bronze. Kiran defeated Mauritian Katouskia Pariadhaven by fall in the repechage of the 76kg category for her first major medal at the international level.

Sushil took very little time to defeat Johannes Botha of South Africa on technical superiority. The South African came into the bout struggling with a leg injury and that just about ended any chance of him getting an upset win over the former world champion Indian.

Prior to the final, Sushil scored easy technical superiority victories over Canada’s Jevon Balfour and Pakistan’s Muhammad Asad Butt before scoring a victory by fall over Australia’s Connor Evans.

The celebrated wrestler, however, doggedly avoided the media after his triumph, refusing to take questions despite repeated requests from even the Games news service volunteers.

Aware, on the other hand, prevailed 15-7 over Canada’s Steven Takahashi in an exciting contest during which the Indian was troubled by a groin niggle but chose to carry on with more than a minute left on the clock.

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