U23 World Wrestling Championships | Sunil Kumar keep hopes alive for Bronze despite defeat
Sunil Kumar can still win a bronze by virtue of repechage bouts
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Former Asian champion Sunil Kumar was the only Indian to keep the hopes alive in the Greco-Roman events of the ongoing U23 World Wrestling Championships. However, the other three wrestlers in action on Monday – Arshad, Adem, Dmyto and Aryan Panwar - were all eliminated from the meet.
Sunil Kumar made it to the main draw of the men’s Greco-Roman 87kg event after a win over Croatia’s Philip Smetko by 6-3 in the qualifiers. However, he was handsomely defeated by the Russian Wrestling Federation’s two-time Junior World Champion Aleksandr Komarov, by a margin of 2-6 in the pre-quarterfinals.
But, the Indian is still in contention for the bronze medal, with Komarov making it to the gold medal bout. The World no.37 will face Iran’s Naser Alizadeh in the first round of repechage. Apart from which, all other Indian wrestlers in action on Monday, have been eliminated from the competition.
Neeraj was hammered 0-9 by the 2019 world bronze medallist Ali Reza Najati on Iran in the round of 16 of the men’s 63kg event. Meanwhile, Arshad lost to Adem Burak of Turkey 1-7 in the pre-quarterfinals of the men’s 55kg event, while Sajan failed to get past the qualifying round of the men’s 77kg category, losing to Dmytro Vasetskyi D, of Ukraine, by technical superiority.
Aryan Panwar, who featured in the men’s 130kg event, also made his exit in the round of 16, after he was defeated by European medallist Fatih Bozkurt.
