India’s growing depth in freestyle wrestling is consistently showcased at international level and another rising star made his mark on Tuesday. The Indian camp had plenty to cheer after Ravinder entered the final of the 61kg event in the under-23 world championships in Budapest.
Ravinder, 22, defeated Arsen Harutyunyan of Armenia on points (4-3) to set up a title clash against Ulukbek Zholdoshbekov of Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday. The Indian Air Force wrestler is the latest to underline the talent coming out of Haryana.
In the quarters, Ravinder upset Russia’s Dinislam Takhtarov by scoring a thumping 11-0 win after beginning his campaign by defeating Hungary’s Marcell Budai Kovacs 12-1.
In 79kg, India’s Veer Dev Gulia moved into bronze medal reckoning after the Army grappler, also from Haryana, set up a meeting with Russia’s Radik Valiev. The bout will be held late on Tuesday.
However, in 70kg freestyle, Naveen lost his repechage bout to Mongolia’s Temuulen Enkhtuya 6-8. Naveen had lost his qualifying bout to 0-11 to Russia’s Chermen Valiev 0-11, who made it to the final to ensure a second chance for the Indian wrestler.
In the 92kg division, Viky lost to Switzerland’s Samuel Scherrer 1-7 in the preliminary round. It was a setback for India as Viky had won silver in the senior Asian championships and bronze at the junior world championships this year.
In 74kg, Gaurav Baliyan made a good start scoring a 11-0 win against Oleksandr Vyshniak of Ukraine but lost to Russia’s Razambek Zhamalov 9-12 in his next bout. In 84kg, Sanjeet lost his qualifying round to Russia’s Azamat Zakuev 0-6 while in 125kg, Aryan Pratap lost 3-4 to top seed Hovhannes Maghakyan of Armenia.
In 65kg, 2017 junior Asian champion and second seed Sharvan upset top seed Rifat Saibotalov of Kazakhstan 8-6 in his opening bout but lost 6-10 to France’s Ilman Mukhtarov in the next bout.
In 97kg, Akash Antil outplayed China’s Li Xu 10-0 in the first round, but lost to Ukraine’s Danylo Stasiuk 5-9 in the quarters. In 57kg, Naveen lost 0-11 to Turkey’s Ahmet Duman in the first round.