Astana, Oct 30 India endured a disappointing day at the World Wrestling Championships here on Friday, with none of its wrestlers managing to reach the quarterfinal stage, although rookie Nikhil produced a remarkable fightback before suffering a narrow defeat against a formidable Iranian opponent.
Competing in the men’s 61kg category, Nikhil gave World silver medallist Ahmad Masoud Mohammadnezhadjav a massive scare, recovering from an 0-8 deficit to take a 9-8 lead with nine consecutive points before eventually going down 9-10 in a thrilling pre-quarterfinal bout.
Earlier, Nikhil had begun his campaign impressively, defeating Bulgaria’s Mikyay Naim by technical superiority (12-2) in the qualification round.
Pushpender Dalal also made a promising start in the men’s 86kg category, winning two successive bouts before his campaign ended in the pre-quarterfinals.
He first edged past Egypt’s Mohamed 10-8 in the opening round before registering a high-scoring 17-9 victory over Morocco’s Mohamed Amine in the round of 16.
However, Pushpender could not sustain the momentum, losing 2-7 to Azerbaijan’s Arsenii Dzhioev in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the men’s 125kg category, Jaspooran Singh began with an 8-4 victory over Romania’s Omar Sarem in the qualification round but was subsequently outclassed by two-time Olympic medallist Amir Hossein Zare of Iran, losing by technical superiority (0-11) in the pre-quarterfinals.
Vishal Kaliramana’s campaign in the men’s 70kg category ended in the qualification round after he suffered a 2-7 defeat against Turkiye’s Ferhat Kilic.
Vicky Hooda was also eliminated after losing his men’s 97kg repechage bout by technical superiority (0-10) to Iranian great Hassan Yazdani.
India will, however, have another opportunity to strike gold later in the day when Manisha Bhanwala competes in the women’s 59kg gold medal bout.
(PTI News)
