Freestyle wrestler Nishan Randhawa gave the Indian Diaspora its first medal of the Santiago 2023 Pan-Am Games on Wednesday. Competing in the 97 kg category, Nishan Randhawa defeated Lacy Garita Maxwell of Costa Rica on points in the bronze medal match.
Kyle Snyder of the US, who won the gold, had beaten Nishan Randhawa in the quarterfinals. Since Kyle Snyder made the final and ultimately won the gold, Nishan got into the bronze medal through Repechage.
Nishan started well in the morning defeating Ricardo Adrian Boez of Argentina 14-4. He, however, found the US grappler Kyle Snyder too strong for himself and lost 0-10 in the last eight rounds.
Nishan, however, lived up to his reputation as he took a comfortable 4-0 lead by pushing his opponent out of the wrestling arena repeatedly. In the final phase of the bout, the Costa Rican wrestler, however, managed to bring Nishan down to get four points. In the final moments, both were engaged in a bid to floor each other and ended with two points each to give Nishan a convincing 7-6 win and a bronze medal.
“I am delighted to win a medal for my country,” said Nishan after the bout as his family members and friends who travelled with him to Santiago celebrated his splendid win as it gave the Indian community a lot to cheer about.
Meanwhile, two members of the Indian Diaspora, Naresh Nandan and Naresh Siddharth, representing the US Table Tennis team, went out of the medal reckoning losing their individual singles and doubles matches.
Naresh Nandan lost to his Paraguay rival 2-4 in the round of 32. Later in partnership with Liang Jishan, Naresh lost the doubles match to the Cubans 0-4. Their hopes of ending on a podium will now depend upon the team events that start on Thursday.
Naresh Nandan and Naresh Siddharth will represent the USA in team matches against Cuba and Mexico on Thursday while the US women’s team will play against the Independent Athletes team and Argentina.
Other Indian Diaspora medal hopes are on hockey teams as both USA and Canada men play the semi-finals in the men’s section on Wednesday evening.
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