President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday congratulated Indian boxers Kapil Pokhariya and wrestler Sunil Kumar after they secured bronze medals at the Asian Games 2026.
Kapil claimed the bronze medal in the men’s 90 kg boxing event after losing 1-4 to reigning world champion Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan in the semifinal.
Kapil made a bright start and found success with combinations during the opening round, but Turabek’s speed, physicality and accuracy gradually shifted the contest in his favour. The Uzbek boxer was awarded the first round unanimously.
The Indian continued to look for openings in the second round and landed several punches, but Turabek responded with a strong left hook and controlled much of the exchanges. The judges awarded the round 4-1 to the Uzbek, putting Kapil in a difficult position heading into the final round.
Kapil continued to attack and attempted to force the pace, but Turabek remained the more effective boxer. The Uzbek eventually secured a 4-1 split-decision victory to advance to the final, while Kapil took home the bronze medal.
Congratulating Kapil, President Murmu wrote on X: “I congratulate Kapil Pokhariya on winning the Bronze Medal in the Men’s 90 kg Boxing event at the Asian Games 2026. May you continue to achieve many more milestones.”
Sunil, meanwhile, produced a dominant performance to secure bronze in the men’s 87 kg Greco-Roman wrestling event, defeating the Philippines’ Callum Johnston Roberts 9-0 by technical superiority.
The victory earned Sunil a second consecutive Asian Games bronze and made him the first Indian wrestler to win two Greco-Roman wrestling medals at the Asian Games.
Returning to the podium after winning bronze in the same category at Hangzhou 2022, the 27-year-old needed barely one round to settle the contest at the Nagoya City Inae Sports Centre.
Sunil immediately took control, throwing Roberts over twice in the opening exchanges to collect four points. A further point for passivity followed, leaving the Indian with a 5-0 advantage barely 90 seconds into the bout.
He continued to attack and capitalised on another passivity sequence to take his opponent down and stretch the lead to 7-0. Sunil then executed another scoring move to add two more points and reach the nine-point winning margin required for technical superiority.
Congratulating Sunil, President Murmu wrote on X: “Warm congratulations to Sunil Kumar on winning the Bronze Medal in the Men’s 87 kg Greco-Roman Wrestling event at the Asian Games 2026. May this achievement inspire you to scale even greater heights and bring many more moments of glory to the nation.”
With Kapil’s bronze, three Indian boxers have secured bronze medals at the Asian Games 2026, with Priya Ghanghas and Narender also finishing on the podium. India will have three boxers fighting for gold on October 2, with Parveen Hooda, Lovlina Borgohain and Ankush Panghal set to compete in their respective finals.
-IANS
