Amit Kumar upsets North Korea8217;s Yang Kyong II to win India8217;s first gold

20-year-old beats London bronze-medal-winner Yang Kyong II to win India's first gold

After Amit Kumar won his 55kg freestyle semifinal against Japan8217;s Fumitaka Morishita,the coaching staff took him aside and gave him some sound advice that was to prove vital. Kumar was told by his coaches,including chief coach Vinod Kumar,to watch out for attacking moves on his left leg against his opponent in the final Yang Kyong II from North Korea.

The decision was also taken not to bandage the wound on his head,that was incurred during the semifinal. A spray was used instead to cut the blood flow. A bandage would have made it a target area for his opponent in the final.

Yang Kyong II was a formidable opponent; a bronze medal winner at the London Games. The 24-year-old from Pyongyang had won the the World Championships gold medal 2009,the Asian Games silver 2010 and the Asian Championships gold 2011,so the build up to the final bout was nervy for the 20-year-old Indian from Nahri.

The first period was his biggest test. He managed to survive couple of dangerous lunges and also came close of conceding a caution point after he was warned twice by the referee for locking on the fingers of his opponent.

But having survived that,Amit8217;s counter-attacking skills helped him win the first period 1-0 as he was successful in flooring the North Korean. The second period was more intense as both grapplers were aggressive. The Korean though was more desperate as he needed to win the period to stay in the contest. Twice in a space of a minute,Amit wriggled out of the leg hold and saved himself but conceded a point.

And then got his nose ahead in the contest with the counter-attack. As predicted before the Korean attacked the legs,bagged a couple of points,but Amit rolled him over and was awarded one more. Once ahead,it was Amit8217;s turn to be the aggressor and the leg hold came good and two more points were added to his tally.

The match ended 1-0,5-2 in Amit8217;s favour and with it came India8217;s first gold medal of this year8217;s Asian Championships. Coach told me to keep my left leg away from his attacking reach as he had been attacking that side of the body against everybody today. I did that and it came good, Amit said after the bout.

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In the semifinals,Amit overwhelmed Japanese Fumitaka Morishita,who had won the bronze medal in this year8217;s World Cup.

After winning the first period 1-0,Amit turned it on and won the bout 8216;by fall8217; as he pinned the Japanese on the mat,resulting in both his shoulders touching the mat. He was attended by the doctors on the after getting a gash on the head.

Vinesh opens account

Earlier,Vinesh ended the wait for India8217;s first medal at these championships as she beat Thailand8217;s Sripapa Tho-Kaew in the 51kg women8217;s bronze medal play-off. In fact,after two uneventful days,hosts bagged four medals in a rush. Babita Kumari women 55kg and Bajrang free-style 60kg were the other medal winners.

Both Vinesh and Babita missed the chance to make the final after losing in the dying seconds of their matches. Both of us eased with seconds to go. We gave points after leading the bouts. We will learn from our mistakes, said Babita. Bajrang redeemed himself after losing his first bout to North Korea8217;s Hak Hwang Ryong.

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The 18-year-old,touted as one of the future stars from India,beat two experienced wrestlers on his way to the podium. In the first repechage round he beat Japan8217;s Shogo Maeda and then Iran8217;s Hassan Morad.