U-23 World Wrestling Championships 2021 | Saurabh Igave misses out on bronze, two others enter repechage

11/07/2021

Indian wrestlers seem to be having a tough time at the U-23 World Wrestling Championship 2021 in Belgrade. Saurabh Igave missed out on the bronze medal in the 57kg category and lost out to Armenia's Manvel Khndzrtsyan. Two others just managed to reach repechage round -- Praveen Malik and Mohit.

Malik, who is a former junior Asian champion, went on to beat Guinea-Bissau’s Caetano Antonio Sa 12-1 in the men’s 74kg qualifying round but later lost to Iran’s Mohmmadsadegh Biglar Firouzpourbandpei 10-2 in the pre-quarters. But since the Iranian made it to the final of the event, Malik made his way through the repechage round, and is in chance to win a bronze.

He will face Polish wrestler Szymon Wojtkowski in his repechage bout. On the other hand, Mohit, competing in the 125kg category, will also be competing in the repechage round. He beat Puerto Rico’s Blas Alejandro Ortiz Alayon 11-0 in the round of 16 but later lost to Greece’s Azamat Khosonov 4-2.

Mohit’s will now face Kazakhstan’s Bakdaulet Osserbay.

Meanwhile, national champion Sandeep Singh Mann lost to Russia's Zagid Karimov 3-7 in the quarter-finals. Karimov lost in the semis, which meant that Mann did not make it to the repechage round. Suraj Rajkumar Kokate bowed out in the qualification round itself in the 61kg category, after he lost 0-10 to USA’s Christopher Cannon. Guradeshwar Singh lost to Belarus’ Arkadzi Pahasian in the 92kg qualifiers.

In the ongoing championships, only women wrestlers have won five medals for the country, while the men have drawn a blank so far. Similar was the story with the Greco Roman wrestlers.