Commonwealth Games 2022: Mohit Grewal wins bronze to take India’s wrestling medal tally to six

Indian wrestler Mohit Grewal won the bronze medal in the men’s 125kg wrestling at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham on Friday.

Mohit Grewal, who won a gold medal on his senior international debut at a Kazakhstan meet earlier this year, beat Jamaican wrestler Aaron Johnson in the bronze medal match to earn his maiden CWG podium finish.

Mohit Grewal’s medal meant Indian wrestlers won a medal in all the six categories competed on Friday. Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Deepak Punia won gold medals while Anshu Malik settled for a silver. Divya Kakran and Mohit were the bronze medallists.

Six more Indian wrestlers, including Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Ravi Kumar Dahiya, are in action on Saturday.

Aaron Johnson, who earned his bronze medal match through repechage, conceded the first point of the match within the first 30 seconds as Mohit Grewal took the early initiative.

With the crowd at the Coventry Stadium and Arena firmly behind him, Mohit Grewal picked his moments well and kept the scoreboard ticking in his favour.

Leading 4-0 heading into the second period, the 22-year-old Mohit Grewal executed a takedown and pin to end the match with almost two and a half minutes left on the clock.

The Indian heavyweight wrestler had earlier breezed past Cypriot grappler Alexios Kaouslidis by a 10-1 margin in his opening bout, the quarter-finals, and came up against Olympian Amarveer Dhesi, an Indian-origin Canadian, in his top four bout.

Amarveer’s father Balbir Singh Dhesi was a Greco-Roman national champion in India before he migrated to Canada.

Mohit started well against Dhesi but the reigning Pan-American champion kicked up a gear to beat the Indian via technical superiority. However, with the Canadian in the final, Mohit Grewal advanced directly to the bronze medal match.