Jr world championships: Wrestler Ravinder settles for silver

Ufa (Russia), August 18

Ravinder brought home the silver medal after being outwitted by his Iranian opponent but Bipasha emerged a surprise finalist in the women’s 76kg to keep India’s gold medal hopes alive at the wrestling World Junior Championships.

Making full use of the repechage rounds, Yash (74kg), Pruthvi Babasehb Patil (92kg) and Anirudh (125kg) grabbed bronze medals as India finished their men’s freestyle campaign with six medals.

Gourav Baliyan (79kg) and Deepak (97kg) had won bronze on Tuesday.

Up against Rahman Mousa Amouzadkhalili, who had won the Yasar Dogu senior event in June, Ravinder could not make his moves as he was largely left to defend in the 61kg title clash. The Iranian kept Ravinder tangled in head and body locks to win comfortably 9-3.

In the 74kg playoff, Yash first scored a confident 9-2 win over Armenia’s Armen Musikyan and then pulled off a 12-6 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Stambul Zhanybek Uulu after trailing 2-5. Yash changed the bout in the last 90 seconds with his quick moves. Stambul perhaps got overconfident after taking the lead and Yash was quick to take advantage after his rival dropped his guard a bit.

Patil took bronze in 92kg after edging past Russia’s Ivan Kirillov 2-1 in the playoff. Patil was trailing on criteria after both wrestlers scored points on the other’s passivity but the Russian was imposed a point penalty for foul play, and that proved decisive. Anirudh (125kg) also added a bronze to India’s tally with an impressive 7-2 win over Aydin Ahmadov of Azerbaijan.

In the women’s competition, Bipasha was slow off the blocks but got better with each match. She managed a 6-3 win over Kazakhstan’s Dilnaz Mulkinova and then comfortably beat Mongolia’s Odbag Ulziibat 9-4.

Simran moved into the women’s 50kg semifinals with two dominant wins but lost the last-four stage match by technical superiority to formidable American Emily King Shilson. She will not fight for bronze.

Sito (55kg), Kusum (59kg) and Arju (68kg) lost in the quarterfinals. — PTI