New Delhi, Aug 1:
Two Indian wrestlers — Veer Dev Gulia and Ravinder — made it to the bronze medal round of their respective weight categories on day one of the Junior World Wrestling Championships in Tampere, Finland today.
Ravinder put up a dominating show in his quarterfinal, pre-quarterfinal and qualification bouts to storm into the semifinals of men’s 60kg freestyle category, before losing to Steven McKee of USA 14-16 in the last four stage.
En route to semifinals, Ravinder had beaten Seokki Yoon of Korea 12-2, Ali Rahimzade of Azerbaijan 5-4 and Tsogbadrakh Tseveensuren of Mongolia 2-2.
In his bronze-medal bout, Ravinder will take on Hiromu Sakaki of Japan.
Gulia, however, made the bronze medal play-offs of men’s 74kg freestyle after his quarterfinal round opponent Isa Shapiev of Uzbekistan reached the gold medal round.
Gulia started off well by beating Johann Christoph Steinforth of Germany 6-2 in the 1/8 stage, but lost in the quarterfinals 0-11 to the Uzbek wrestler.
But with Shapiev entering the gold medal round, Gulia got another chance and took full advantage of it by defeating Ty Stuart Bridgwater of Canada 5-0 in his repechage bout.
Gulia will take on Yamasaki Yajuro of Japan in his bronze medal bout.
Other Indians in the fray today — Suraj Aswala (50kg) and Monu (96kg) — bowed out of the tournament early. PTI
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