Glasgow: Indian judokas Asmita Dey and Harsh Singh scripted history at the Commonwealth Games by clinching gold medals in the women's 48kg and men's 60kg events, respectively, on Friday.
After defeating Canada's Heidi Quach in a four-minute final, Dey became the first-ever Indian judoka to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal.
Singh also etched his name in history by becoming the first Indian male judoka to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal.
The 23-year-old, competing in his maiden Commonwealth Games, claimed the biggest title of his career with a composed and tactically astute performance against Australian Olympian Joshua Katz, who was widely regarded as the favourite for the gold medal.
After a closely contested bout in which neither judoka established a clear advantage, Harsh struck decisively with just 41 seconds remaining on the clock.
He executed a superb waza-ari—the second-highest scoring technique in judo—to take the lead and then defended resolutely for the remainder of the four-minute contest to secure a memorable victory. The result was a major upset considering Katz's decorated résumé.
Since the introduction of judo as a medal sport at the Commonwealth Games in 1990 in Auckland, Indian judokas have won medals at multiple editions but had never secured a gold medal until now.
The 23-year-old Asmita from Tripura found herself on the back foot early in the women's 48kg final after conceding a yuko and receiving a penalty, allowing Quach to take control of the bout.
However, Asmita responded brilliantly, attacking with greater intent and levelling the scores at 1-1 shortly after the midway stage of the four-minute contest.
Neither judoka could find the decisive score during regulation time despite a series of intense exchanges, forcing the match into the Golden Score period, where the first scoring action determines the winner.
Maintaining her composure under pressure, Asmita launched a decisive attack in sudden-death overtime and earned another yuko to seal a memorable victory and hand India its first-ever Commonwealth Games judo gold.
The triumph capped an impressive campaign for the young judoka, who showed remarkable resilience to recover from an early deficit and outfight her Canadian opponent in a gripping final.
