Asiad 2018: Sushil Kumar crashes out in first round
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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Air India Express introduces late-night Bengaluru–Mangaluru service
International services at M’luru cancelled on March 7
Mangaluru: Air India Express will introduce a late-night daily flight service on the Bengaluru–Mangaluru–Bengaluru sector starting March 10, 2026.
According to the sources, flight IX 5971 will depart from Bengaluru at 9.25 pm and arrive in Mangaluru at 10.40 pm. The return flight, IX 5972, will depart from Mangaluru at 11.10 pm and reach Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, at 12.20 am.
The additional service will operate daily and will remain in effect until March 28, 2026.
Meanwhile, Air India Express has cancelled all its scheduled international flights from Mangaluru International Airport (IXE) on March 7 due to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
The Bengaluru–Mangaluru sector already has multiple daily services. Apart from Air India Express, IndiGo also operates flights on this route.
