Wrestling World Championships: Abhimanyu only Indian to reach quarter-finals on Day 1 at Belgrade

Belgrade: Three Indian free-style wrestlers fell by the wayside, losing their second-round bouts on the Day 1 of the UWW World Championships, with only the 70kg grappler Abhimanyu entering the quarter-final in Belgrade on Saturday. Abhimanyu, the bronze-medal winner at the U23 World Championships in June and ranked 26th in the world, first upset Ukrainian world No 7 Ihor Nykyforuk 19-9 by effecting a victory by fall (VFA) before defeating Moldova’s Nicolai Grahmez 13-2 (technical superiority) to secure a place in the quarters. He will, however, run into world No 2 from the United States, 28-year-old Zain Allen Retherford, runner-up at the 2022 World Championships in Belgrade last year. The World Championships in Belgrade is a 2024 Paris Olympic qualification tournament. India is competing in the global event under the United World Wrestling (UWW) flag after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) was suspended for failing to hold elections in the time-frame given by the world body. Abhimanyu was in great form in the first round against the higher ranked Nykyforuk, finishing the contest in 5 minutes, 41 seconds. The referee stopped the contest 2.41 minutes into the second three-minute session, after Abhimanyu had also dominated the first three-minute session, taking a 5-0 lead. Akash Dahiya (61kg), despite beginning on winning note, defeating his Moldovan opponent Leomid Colesnic with the referees giving an overwhelming 10-5 verdict in the Indian’s favour, lost his pre-quarterfinal contest to Uzbekistan’s world No 6 Jahongirmirza Turobov. Dahiya, ranked 21st, was no match for Turobov, gold medallist at the 2021 Asian Championships, with the Ukrainian earning a victory by fall (7-4). In the 86kg free-style category, grappler Sandeep Mann got the better of Dejan Mitrov of North Macedonia with a win by technical superiority (10-0), but was no match for Lin Zushen in the second round of qualification losing 0-11 with the referee declaring the Chinese winner on technical superiority with nearly 45 seconds remaining in the contest. India’s 125kg grappler Sumit, after an easy first-round qualification outing against Japanese Taiki Yamamoto, whom he beat 3-1, lost his pre-quarterfinal contest to a far superior opponent in Poland’s Robert Baran. The seeded seventh Polish wrestler is a silver medallist at the European Championships besides being a quarterfinalist at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, was just too good for the Indian, securing a ‘win by decision’ VPO 3-0.