CHENNAI: Indian wrestlers continued to struggle for the second consecutive day in the U20 World Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia on Monday. As many as four Greco-Roman wrestlers from the country competed in their respective weight categories but only one could make it to the repechage round thanks to his opponent, who defeated him and then entered the final.
Vinit lost the qualification bout 0-9 in the 72kg against Salih Yusuf Yazici of Turkiye. Yazici then won the next two bouts to reach the semifinal, where he beat Jorge Gomez Garcia of Mexico 7-2 to storm into the summit clash. That win also made Vinit eligible for the repechage round, which will be held on Tuesday.
In the 55kg, Hariom had a good start as he got past Kaloyan Ivanov of Bulgaria 4-2 in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian, however, lost the quarterfinal by a fall against Khojiakbar Kuchkarov of Uzbekistan. The Uzbek wrestler could not replicate his show in the semifinal against his Iranian opponent, Armin S Shamsipourhaji. His loss eventually brought curtains down on the Indian grappler's run in the competition.
Rovind too won his qualification bout against Sergios Bouloutidis of Greece 4-1 but was pinned by Ukraine's Denys Kovshun in the next round. Denys then lost his quarterfinal match 4-6 against Petro Zhytovoz of Hungary, ending Rovind's campaign. In the 97kg, Croatia's Andrej Rodin defeated India's Akshay Rana (8-0) by technical superiority. Andrej could not win the next round leading to the exit of Akshay from the competition.
India had a forgettable outing on Day 1 on Sunday as none of their four Greco-Roman wrestlers made it to the medal round. Competitions in the remaining two weight categories (60kg and 82kg) of the Greco-Roman style will be held on Tuesday. Besides, women wrestlers competing in 50kg, 53kg and 72kg weight categories too will be in action on Tuesday.