Asmita Dey (Women’s 48kg), Unnati Sharma (Women’s 63kg) and Arun Kumar (Men’s 73kg) claim gold in their respective weight classes
Release date – Sunday, July 23 at 07:10pm
Macao: Asmita Dey in women’s 48kg, Unnati Sharma in women’s 63kg and Arun Kumar in men’s 73kg won gold in their respective weight classes at the Asian Cup Junior Judo Championships here on Sunday, with India taking three golds, one silver and one bronze.
With Yash Ghangas taking silver in the over 100kg category and Shraddha Kadubal Chopade taking bronze in the women’s 52kg category, India put on a strong showing in Macau, China. Ashmita, who had a bye in the first round, defeated Hong Kong player Deng Xueyao in the preliminaries and won the first place in Group D.
The 20-year-old Indian judoka, who won silver at the 2023 Asian Open and bronze at the 2022 Asian Junior Championships in Kuwait City in April, beat Australia’s Ashlyn Do in the semifinals.
She then beat another Australian, Annelise Field, to win the gold medal in the final. In the women’s 52kg class, Shrada Choppard suffered setbacks in the preliminaries and lost to South Korea’s Baek Jiho in Group C.
She then defeated Macau’s Li Yihui and Australia’s Carly Bannister in the rematch for bronze. India’s second gold in the women’s category came to Unnati Sharma on Sunday, who beat Macau’s Ian I Lei in Group C to advance to the knockout round.
In the semi-finals, Unati defeated Mongolia’s Hurile Chulun, and in the final defeated Australia’s Rayleigh Lametta to win the gold medal. In the men’s 73kg class, Indian player Arun Kumar defeated Australian player Dimitrios Giant Theos in Group A, and then defeated South Korean player Lin Jimin who started with Mongolian player Zaya to win the A group championship.
Arun Kumar defeated Maimani Abdulrauf of Saudi Arabia in the semifinals and Koshi Toyoshima of Australia in the final to claim the gold medal. Yash Ghangas lost to Mongolia’s Khangarid Gantulga in the +100kg final for silver.
Ash, 20, previously won a gold medal at the 2023 Hong Kong Junior Asian Cup in July and a silver medal at the 2021 Asian Oceania Junior Championships.
