BELGRADE, Sep 18: India’s men’s freestyle wrestlers cut a sorry figure at the World Championships as none of them could earn quota for next year’s Paris Olympics or win a medal.
What was more disappointing was that the Indian wresters lost to rivals from the nations that are not known for their wrestling prowess, raising suspicion over their fitness before flying to Belgrade.
Sachin Mor (79kg) lost his repechage round by technical superiority to North Macedonia’s Ahmad Magomedov, while Anuj Kumar (65kg) could not even clear the Qualification round, losing 7-8 to Mexico’s Austin Klee Gomez.
Mexico and North Macedonia are not the nations against whom the Indians are expected to lose their bouts. n the 70kg bronze play-off, Abhimanyu lost by technical superiority to Armenia’s Arman Andreasyan.
Akash Dahiya (61kg), Naveen (74kg), Sachin Mor (79kg), Sandeep Singh Mann (86kg), Pruthviraj (92kg), Sahil (97kg) and Sumit (125kg) all fell at different stages of the tournament.
The next opportunity to earn Olympic quota will come at Asian and World Qualifiers next year. All Indian wrestlers are competing as neutral athletes because world governing body did not allow them to compete under India flag. (PTI)
