U-23 Wrestling World Championships | Veer Dev Gulia aims for bronze, Naveen loses repechage bout
Veer Dev Gulia (79kg) lost the semi-final bout but secured his place in the bronze medal contest, while Naveen (70kg) lost his opening repechage bout at the UWW U-23 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Naveen lost his opening repechage bout against Mongolia’s Temuulen Enkhtuya 6-8.
Veer Dev Gulia lost the semi-final bout but secured his place in the bronze medal contest in the 79kg category, while Naveen (70kg) lost his opening repechage bout at the UWW U-23 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Gulia had acquired a strong winning run as he defeated Hungary’s Botond Lukacs 3-1 in the opening round and followed it up with an impressive 7-2 win over China’s Ligan Chai, which saw him making it to the quarterfinals, where he took Mongolia’s Batzul Damjin by storm, defeating him in a 12-1 on Monday night.
However, in the semifinals, the 22-year-old’s brilliant streak came to a conclusion at the hands of Abubakr Abakarov of Azerbaijan, who emerged an 8-1 winner. Gulia will now fight for the bronze on Tuesday and his opponent is yet to be decided.
In 70kg, Naveen put up a disappointing show as he lost his qualifying bout to Russia’s 16th seed Chermen Valiev 0-11. But with Valiev making it to the final, Naveen got another chance to fight for a medal as he reached repechage against Mongolia’s Temuulen Enkhtuya. However, Naveen could not grasp the opportunity and lost his opening repechage bout to the wrestler from Mongolia. Naveen, who at one point of time had taken lead in the bout, eventually lost 6-8 to crash out before the medal round.
On the first day of the championships, three Indians had made it to the quarter-finals besides Gulia, with the others being Sharvan (65kg) and Akash Antil (97kg).
2017 Junior Asian Championship gold medallist Sharvan, who was seeded second in his category, showed his attacking intent against the top seed Rifat Saibotalov of Kazakhstan to claim a tight 8-6 victory. However, in the quarters, he was defeated 6-10 by France’s Ilman Mukhtarov and the Indian could not make it to repechage as the Frenchman failed to make it to the final.
In 97kg, ninth seed Akash Antil demolished China’s Li Xu 10-0 in the opening round. In the last-eight, Danylo Stasiuk of Ukraine dashed the Indian’s medal hopes by inflicted a 9-5 defeat on him.
In 57kg, Naveen lost 0-11 to Turkey’s Ahmet Duman and crashed out in the qualifying round.
Ravinder will begin his challenge in 61kg as the third seed against the fourth-seeded Budai Kovacs of Hungary for a place in the quarters. In 74kg, Gaurav Baliyan takes on Ukraine’s Olexandr Vyshniak in the qualifiers while Sanjeet (86kg) will be in action against Russia’s Zakuev in qualifiers. In the 92kg category, Viky has a tough opener against the top seed Scherrer of Switzerland in the Round of 16. Similarly, in the 125kg category, second-seeded Aryan Pratap will go up against the top seed Maghakyan of Armenia in the last-16.
