Rahul Aware won the first gold medal for Indian in Wrestling at CWG 2018. (PTI)
Wrestler Rahul Aware on Thursday grabbed the 13th gold medal for India in Men’s 57 kg Freestyle category in the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast. The 26-year old athlete defeated Canada’s Steven Takahashi with 15-7 on the scoreboard to clinch the top podium finish. The Maharashtra grappler scored six technical points in the first period and nine in the second, against Takahashi’s four and three, respectively.
He had a brilliant start to his campaign on Day 8 of CWG as he started off by beating George Ramm of England by 11-0 technical superiority to enter the quarter-finals. He scored 3 points in the first period and then 8 points in the second to pick up the win.
Later, Aware defeated Australia’s Thomas Cicchini and Pakistan’s Muhammad Bilal by 10-0 to make it to the final and secure a medal for India.
Kiran also defeated Nigeria’s Blessing Onyebuchi by 10-0 by Technical Superiority to clinch a bronze medal for India in Women’s Freestyle 76 kg. Babita Kumari also will compete against won the silver medal in 53 kg Freestyle after losing to Canda’s Diana Weicker in the final.