Commonwealth Games 2018: Wrestlers Sushil Kumar, Rahul Aware reach finals, assure India of more medals

Gold Coast: Indians wrestlers Rahul Aware (57kg freestyle) and Sushil Kumar (74kg freestyle) reached finals in their respective categories in men's freestyle wrestling competition at the 21st Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Gold Coast on Thursday.

Rahul Aware earlier won the semi-finals of the 57-kilogram category of the men's freestyle competition here.

Aware won both his bouts so far in a comprehensive fashion, overpowering George Ramm of England and Australia's Thomas Cichhini by technical superiority.

Rahul Aware reached the gold-medal match of men's Freestyle 57kg wrestling with a 12-8 win over Pakistan's Muhammad Bilal. He will now face Canada's Takahashi.

Check the Gold Coast 2018 overall medals tally here.

Meanwhile, star wrestler and two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar beat Australia's Connor Evans by fall to book himself a medal with a place in the Men's 74kg Freestyle final.

The Indian wrestling legend had routed Pakistan's Muhammad Butt in a win by technical superiority (10-0) to reach the semifinals of men's Freestyle 74kg.

He earlier overpowered Jevon Balfour of Canada to enter the quarter-finals of the men's 74kg freestyle category.

In the round of 16, Aware powered his way to an 11-0 lead over the English wrestler early in the second round which prompted the judges to award him the bout.

Bouts are awarded on the basis of technical superiority when one wrestler takes a lead of 10 or more points.

Aware took a 1-0 lead early in the opening period before a takedown earned him another two points towards the end of the round.

The Indian managed an ankle hold on his opponent right at the start of the second round. He then applied the 'fitley' move to roll Ramm over several times and rack up the winning points.

The Indian was even more impressive in the quarter-finals, outclassing Cichhini in the first round.

He brought down the Australian and turned him over for a 4-0 lead in the first minute. He continued to dominate proceedings to notch up a one-sided victory.

Indian Medal Winners On Day 7 

India won one gold and two bronze on the seventh day of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast on Wednesday. All three medals came in shooting though Shreyasi Singh, Ankur Mittal and Om Prakash Mitherval, taking India's medals tally to 12 gold, four silver and eight bronze. Check out the overall medals tally here. 

First, Om finished third in men's 50m Pistol event to open India's account with a total of 201.1. Aussie Daniel Repacholi took gold with a new Games record of 227.2 and Shakil Ahmed of Bangladesh took silver with 220.5.

Defending champion and Jitu Rai, the other Indian in the contest, put on view an extremely disappointing performance. Jitu, who had won gold in the 10m Air Pistol on Monday, to everyone's disbelief, registered a lowly 105 to finish at the bottom of the eight-man finals.

Then came the biggest news of the day from an Indian point of view as Shreyasi won gold in women's Double Trap event, which eventually proved to be the country's only gold of the day.

"I'm feeling really well. In 2014, I won the silver and I was really upset that I couldn't win the gold but now, also I was trailing, but when I got the opportunity to fight more and fight harder in the shoot off, I was really happy about that, and I gave it 100 percent," Shreyasi said after her exploits.

Shreyasi shot 96 in the final and beat Australia's Emma Cox 2 shots to 1 in the shoot-off at the Belmont Shooting Centre. The other Indian in the field, Varsha Varman, finished fourth with 86. The bronze medal went to Scotland's Linda Pearson who shot 87 to finish a point ahead of Varsha.

"Emma is, of course, a brilliant competitor to be winning the gold medal against, so lots of wishes to her. She shot really well, too. But I think God is on my side and I'm feeling really lucky," Shreyasi added. 

Lastly, Ankur earned a bronze medal in the men's Double Trap event. Ankur scored 53 points to finish 10 points ahead of compatriot Ashab Mohammed. Scotland's David McMath won gold with 74 points, while silver went to Isle of Man's Tim Kneale (70 points).

Following three medals on Wednesday, India remained third in the medals tally behind leaders Australia and England. 

(With IANS inputs)