Jakarta, Aug 19 : India's veteran Sushil Kumar suffered a shock defeat in the opening round of the men's 74 kg freestyle category in the wrestling competition at the 18th Asian Games here on Sunday.

Sushil seemed sluggish and off-colour right from the start during a rather lacklustre 3-5 defeat to Adam Batirov of Bahrain. Sushil will now hope that Batirov reaches the final in order to compete in the repechage round for a shot at the bronze medal.

Batirov later defeated Abdul Ghafar Qaderi of Afghanistan 15-5 in the pre-quarterfinals.

There was better news for India in the men's 65 kg freestyle division as Bajrang Punia crushed Sirojiddin Khasanov of Uzbekistan on technical superiority in his campaign opener.

Bajrang struggled in the early stages as Khasanov opened up a comfortable 3-0 lead. But the Indian staged a strong comeback by notching up six consecutive points to lead 6-3 at he break.

Bajrang completely dominated the second and final round, scoring seven points within two minutes to take a 13-3 lead which saw him being adjudged the winner due to technical superiority.

A wrestler is considered winner by technical superiority when he leads by 10 or more points. Bajrang will take on Fayziev Abdul Qosim of Tajikistan in the quarter-finals.

Fayziev had thrashed Jindapan Somsak of Thailand by technical superiority (12-2) in the pre-quarterfinals. In the 57kg freestyle category, Sandeep Tomar registered a 12-8 win over Rustem Nazarov of Turkmenistan to enter the second round.

 

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Mumbai (PTI): Tata Group-owned Air India Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson has resigned from the position, according to a source.

Wilson was appointed as Air India's CEO and MD in July 2022 , following former Turkish Airlines Chairman Ilker Ayci's decision not to take up the top job in March 2022 amid a controversy.

Tata Group acquired Air India from the government in January 2022.

"He expressed his desire to resign, conveyed it (to the Board) and resigned," the source privy to the development said.

A response from Air India on the developments was awaited.

Earlier this year, a source had said that the Tata Group was scouting for a suitable candidate to head Air India, as Wilson's five-year tenure at the airline was set to end in 2027.

Air India's low-cost subsidiary, Air India Express also does not have a head since March 19 this year following the resignation of then Managing Director Aloke Singh's exit from the airline after he completed his 5-year tenure at the airline.

Wilson has been under fire since June 12 last year following the crash of the airline's London-bound flight soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 of the 242 persons on board the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.