Novi Sad (Serbia), Oct 26: Sujeet Kalkal, who has established himself as India’s top men’s 65kg wrestler, stormed into the semifinals of the U23 World Championships but three of his compatriots lost in early stages of their respective categories, here Sunday.
Sujeet, who won a bronze in the same championships last year and claimed title in the U23 Asian Championship this year, won his first two bouts by technical superiority – against Moldova’s Fiodor Ceavdari (12-2) and Poland’s Dominik Jakub (11-0).
He was trailing against Bashir Magomedov in the quarterfinal but eventually won 4-2 to make the semis, where he will meet Japan’s Yuto Nishiuchi.
Shubham (61kg) lost his 1/8th round by technical superiority to Azerbaijan’s Jeyhun Allahverdiyev after winning his first bout on injury of his rival.
Ashish (86kg) provided some resistance to his Iranian rival Abolfazl Yaser Rahmani before losing the Qualification round 4-6.
In 97kg, Vicky put up a good show, winning by technical superiority against Uzbekistan’s Otabek Nazirboev (10-0). He then produced a great fight against Georgia’s Merab Suleimanishvili but lost the high-scoring 1/8 round 13-15.
Pravinder (74kg), Sumit Malik (57kg), Naveen Kumar (70kg), Chander Mohan (79kg) and Sachin (92kg) have already been eliminated.
India did not field any athlete in the 125kg weight class since the eligible candidates did not join the national camp and thus were not allowed to compete in trials. (PTI)
