Wrestling Junior World C’ships: Ravinder in final, Baliyan and Deepak open India’s tally with bronze

Upcoming Indian wrestler Ravinder lined himself up for his second international title by reaching the 61kg final of the junior world championship while Gourav Baliyan (79kg) and Deepak (97kg) won bronze medals in Ufa, Russia on Tuesday.

Ravinder had won the Asian Cadet title in 2018 and also won a silver at the 2019 Under-23 World championship.

He will now look to emulate the feat of Deepak Punia in 2018, when the recent Olympian won the gold medal to end India’s near two-decade wait for a champion at this event.

India have also already matched their medal count from Tallin, where they won one gold and two bronze in all.

The 20-year-old Baliyan won the bronze play-off in just 65 seconds, winning his bout against Germany’s Richard Shroeder by technical superiority. He began with a four-point throw and before the German could gather himself, Baliyan came up with consecutive take-down moves to end the bout in a jiffy.

Deepak then took the 97kg bronze with a 3-2 win over Milan Andras Korcsog from Hungary.

Earlier, Ravinder controlled the semifinal against Armenia’s Levik Mikayelyan after trailing 0-2, losing both points on push out. His tactical acumen was on display as he kept effecting point-scoring moves one after another, specially with the double leg attacks. Three consecutive take-down pushed him into lead and he consolidated that with one more. He finished the bout on technical superiority with a four-pointer, with which he threw the Armenian out of the mat after getting hold of the right leg of his rival.

Before that, in the action-packed pre-quarterfinal against Ivan Hramyka from Belarus, Ravinder’s agility stood out as he won 5-2. Ivan had good attacking style but the Indian’’s better stamina helped him immensely.

In the quarterfinal against Brunei’s Alibeg Alibegov, Ravinder’s superior defense was on display. Alibeg got hold of Ravinder’s right leg and then also initiated a dangerous-looking double leg attack but, on both occasions, the Indian used his power and brain to wriggle out.

Among other Indians in action, Yash (74kg) lost in pre-quarterfinals while Vetal Shelkle (86kg), Pruthviraj Patil (92kg) and Aniruddh (125kg) lost their respective quarterfinals.

Updated: Yash, Anirudh and Pruthviraj Patil will be active through repechage, after their respective victors reached the final.

Going out of medal contention were Shubham (57kg) and Rohit (65kg), who lost their respective repechage rounds after their earlier defeats on day one.

(With PTI inputs)