Astana, Oct 24 India expectedly endured a tough outing on the opening day of the World Wrestling Championship with only Lalit managing a win before bowing out against Iran’s Payam Farzad Ahmadi in the 55kg quarterfinals here on Saturday.
Three other Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers in action on the day suffered defeats in their respective Qualification bouts.
Lalit looked down and out against Turkiye’s Omer Halis Recep in the round of 16, trailing 0-7 and standing just one point away from defeat.
However, the Indian produced a stunning turnaround, reeling off nine consecutive points to register a 9-7 victory and keep his campaign alive.
But his next opponent was strong. He was up against Ahmadi, Iran’s 2025 U20 world champion and reigning senior world silver medallist, who wasted little time in securing a win by technical superiority.
Lalit can still hope for a second chance through the repechage, provided Ahmadi reaches the final.
The other three Indians failed to progress from their opening bouts.
Lovepreet Singh (77kg) lost to Uzbekistan’s Doniyorkhon Nakibov by technical superiority (0-8) in the qualification round, while Prince (82kg) suffered a 1-3 defeat against Serbia’s Viktor Nemes.
Harsh (60kg) went down by technical superiority (0-9) to Kyrgyzstan’s Kurmanbek Zhaparov in his qualification bout.
The three Indians hardly showed any stomach for fight with Prince not utilising even the ‘par terre’ position against his rival.
(PTI News)
