NEW DELHI, Oct 6: India's Rajender Kumar won the men's 55kg Greco-Roman wrestling gold medal at the Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday, beating Azhar Hussain of Pakistan in the final.

Reigning champion Kumar successfully defended his title without conceding a single point in the tournament, making it four wrestling golds for the hosts.

He dominated Azhar in a one-sided final of two sessions, winning 11-0 to roars of approval from the home crowd, despite taking a blow to the face.

“Personally I was never trained by my guru to play foul,” he said, referring to Azhar's aggressive tactics. “My bleeding nose was a problem but I managed to deal with it.”

Kumar said the Commonwealth Games had been hugely successful for India's wrestling team, which is on four golds.

“I have practised a lot and that's why I'm here with the gold medal,” he added. “I hoped for the medal and I will keep performing like that in the future.”

Azhar said after the bout he was “happy but not satisfied”.

“I'm usually a freestyle wrestler but I competed in Greco-Roman here. It was difficult to adjust for me.”

Kumar had taken just 46 seconds to demolish Sri Lanka's Smanel Kumara Yaparathna Mudeyanselage in his first match before overcoming Promise Mwenga of Canada in the semi-final.

But Azhar was in no mood to be generous about the Indian's successes.

“There's nothing special about him,” he said. “He is just a Greco-Roman wrestler.”

Promise Mwenga of Canada won the bronze in a tense bout against Sunday Sanni of Nigeria.

Results:

55kg division:

Final:

Rajender Kumar (IND) bt Azhar Hussain (PAK) 11-0.

Bronze medal match:

Promise Mwenga (CAN) bt Sunday Sanni (NGR) 2-0.

66kg division:

Final:

Myroslav Dykun (ENG) bt Jack Bond (CAN) 4-0.

Bronze medal match:

Sunil Kumar (IND) beat Brett Hawthorne (WAL) 14-0.

84kg division:

Final:

Joe Agbonavbare (NGR) bt Manoj Kumar (IND) 7-2.

Bronze medal match:

Dean van Zyl (RSA) bt Gene Kapaufs (AUS) 4-0.

120kg division:

Final:

Ivan Popov (AUS) bt Talaram Mamman (NGR) 8-0.

Bronze medal match:

Dharmender Dalal (IND) bt Varntan Aparian (CPR) 12-0. —AFP