Erasmus wins SA's first Commonwealth Games wrestling gold since 1958
JOHANNESBURG - Wrestler Martin Erasmus bagged South Africa’s 12th gold medal of the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games beating India’s Mausam Khatri in their 97-kilogram freestyle bout on Friday.
Erasmus was in a different class in his heavyweight fight with Khatri scoring the first point before the South African completely rolled him over winning with a 12-2 margin on technical superiority.
The Brakpan native became the first South African since Ian Epton at the 1958 Empire Games to win a wrestling gold medal at the quadrennial showpiece.
“I didn’t expect the gold medal, I took it match for match, and then succeeded so I thank the Lord for that,” Erasmus said. “He (Khatri) was tough and I think he had an injury but that is not my problem.”
Erasmus qualified for the final by first beating Samuel Belkin of New Zealand by virtue or a technical superiority decision, amassing a total of 10 technical points.
He then went on to beat Aussie Nicolaas Verreynne in the quarters and Canada’s Jordan Steen in the semi-finals to set up the gold-medal match against Khatri.
IOL Sport