Asian Wrestling C'Ships: Udit clinches first silver medal for India

Young Indian wrestler Udit clinched the silver medal in men's 57 Kg at his debut Asian Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Thursday while Abhimanyou and Vicky won bronze medals in men's 70 and 97 Kg freestyle categories respectively.

Udit just fell short by one point (4-5) to Japan's Kento Yumiya in the final where he was ahead in the final minute of the match but in the dying seconds, Kento tried to attack and grabbed Udit's leg to win a step out point with just one second on the clock to clinch his first Asian title.

The 19-year-old is a reigning Asian U20 champion, which he won last year after beating Iran's Ebrahim Khari in the final. Both of these wrestlers fought against each other here in Bishkek at the round of 16 bout where Udit once again got the better of him (10-8) to progress through the next round.

In the quarterfinals, Udit upset home favorite and two-time defending Asian medalist Almaz Smanbekov in a close contest (6-4) to confirm his place in the semis where he got better of North Korea's Kim Kum-Hook (5-4) in his third back to back close match.

Abhimanyou, who lost the bronze medal at World Championships last year, secured his first major international medal with a 6-5 win over Begijon Kuldashev of Uzbekistan in the bronze medal match. While Vicky Chahar clinched the final medal of the day with a comfortable 10-1 victory over home favourite Andrey Aronov in the men's 97 kg Bronze medal match.

On the other hand, Rohit (65 Kg) finished with a heartbreaking fifth-place finish after a close (3-5) defeat to Masanosuke Ono of Japan in his bronze medal match. The remaining five Indian men's freestyle wrestlers will be in action on the second day of the competition on Friday.