Wrestling World Championships: Ravinder misses bronze medal as India freestyle team on brink of medal-less campaign
India’s hope for a medal in the freestyle competition at the Wrestling World Championships are almost over after Ravinder's exit on Sunday. The Indian wrestler was completely outclassed by Tokyo Olympian Arsen Harutyunan of Armenia. He lost 10-0 on technical superiority and missed out on a bronze medal match.
Ravinder entered the bronze medal round after a sensational come-from-behind victory by fall against Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov. Trailing by a huge 0-8 margin in the repechage round, Ravinder managed to pin the Bulgarian to enter the 61kg bronze match.
However, the Haryana wrestler could not show his nerves of steel in the medal match. He had no answer to Harutyunyan’s relentless leg lace attack and went down in a little over two minutes into the first half.
With this, India’s best medal hope in the freestyle competition at the wrestling world championships has ended. All eyes will be on seasoned wrestler Satyawart Kadian, who will face Korea’s Seo Minwon in 97kg clash on Monday.
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A win in the qualification round would mean he will lock horns against 2021 Asian Championship silver medalist Alisher Yergali of Kazakhstan.
India’s Day 2 result at Wrestling World Championships
Other Indian wrestlers in the fray could not go beyond the pre-quarterfinals at the Wrestling World Championships.
Pankaj Malik won his 57kg qualification round 4-3 after trailing 0-3. However, he bowed out in the pre-quarterfinal bout against 2019 Wrestling World Championship silver medalist Suleyman Atli of Turkey. Atli needed only 63 seconds to get to the winning lead as he finished the bout with his quick gut wrench move.
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In the 65kg competition, Rohit won his opening bout by technical superiority against Sri Lanka’s Divoshan Charles Fernando. However, his campaign came to a halt after he lost against Russia’s Zagir Shakhiev 4-5 in the pre-quarterfinal.
Pruthviraj Patil entered straight into 92kg pre-quarterfinals but his challenge lasted only 32 seconds as he lost to Azebaijan's Osman Nurmagomedov at the Wrestling World Championships.