Day 6 of World Wrestling Championship will see the start of men’s freestyle competition with India’s best medal hope Bajrang Punia in action.
Men’s 57 kg: RAVI KUMAR BOOKS HIS TICKET TO TOKYO 2020!
Men’s 57kg: Two more points for Ravi! Turns defence into attack and with 10 secs to go looking good for a win!
Men’s 57kg: The Japanese had Ravi on the mat for a long time but the Indian doesn’t budge, great upper body strength. Still leads 4-1 with less than a minute.
Men’s 57kg: Good start to the second half as well for Ravi. Another 2 points to lead 4-1 over Takahashi. Needs to stay strong in defence now.
Men’s 57kg: End of first period. Gritty defensive battle, Ravi doing enough to hold his own against Takahashi. Still leading 2-0.
Men’s 57kg: Good start for RAvi Kumar.
3.27 pm: And here are the quarter-finals once again in 57kg. Can Bajrang keep charging forward?
3.24 pm: Here are the quarter-finals once again in 57kg. First up is Ravi.
3.20 pm: Five minutes away from QF action in Nursultan. Meanwhile, here’s a quick update of India’s day so far:
- Bajrang Punia (65 kg) through to QF
- Ravi Kumar (57 kg) through to QF
- Divya Kakran (68 kg) still has a chance of making it to the repechage
- Sakshi Malik (62kg) knocked out
3.17 pm: The quarter-finals are about to start soon. Ravi Kumar and Bajrang Punia are one win away from reaching the semi-finals.
3.11 pm: Meanwhile, here is the quarter-final lineup for men’s 57kg.
3.09 pm: SAKSHI MALIK OUT OF MEDAL CONTENTION
Her opponent from earlier today, Aminat Adeniyi from Nigeria, has lost in her PQF. No repechage for Sakshi Malik and no Olympic quota yet.
Men’s 57kg: Ravi Kumar through to QF!
And with a big 18-6 over 61kg Euro champ Arsen Harutyunyan. He started off slowly but once he found his opponent’s weakness, he did not let go.
Men’s 57 kg: Well, not quite for Ravi by the looks of it. This has got to be the longest official review in history of sport. No clarity on what’s going on as the scoreboard is having a fix on top left.
Correction: This was a pre-quarterfinal bout. We re still awaiting the results of the challenge from Armenia.
Men’s 57 kg: Gets hold of the Armenian’s ankles again and Ravi has won this 17-6! There is a challenge from the Armenian side over the final points awarded. Awaiting result.
Men’s 57 kg: Ravi is fantastic rhythm now. Pushes the Armenian out early in the second period for a single point. Then gets another ankle lock going and picks up four more points. Yogeshwar would be very proud if he was watching this.
Men’s 57kg: Ravi Kumar fights back in sensational fashion! A 6-point move sees him head to the break leading 8-6 after being down 0-6.
Men’s 57kg: Ravi Kumar finally gets on the scoreboard. Two points. He trails 2-6 in the first period.
Men’s 57kg: Ravi Kumar (57kg) is in all sorts of trouble and down 0-4 in the first period. He hasn’t managed to get hold of his opponent yet. Well, make that 6-0 as the Armenian gets a challenge right and moves further ahead.
Men’s 57kg quarterfinals: Ravi Kumar’s 57kg bout is coming up on Mat C next. He will be taking on Arsen Harutyunyan (ARM).
Men’s 65kg, pre-quarters: In a result that is very much of relevance to Bajrang, the two big names in his category were involved in a sensational PQF bout where Russia’s Rashidov eliminated the defending world champ with a brilliant win.
Men’s 65kg, pre-quarters: Bajrang Punia is just one win away from booking his first Olympic berth after he defeates David Habat of Slovakia 3-0. He wasn’t his dominant self in this bout but he will definitely take the result.
Women’s 62kg, Round of 16: Sakshi has been clearly out of sorts since winning the Rio Olympics bronze medal. On Thursday, she was slow to get off the blocks and conceded a 6-0 lead before scoring her first take down. She did fight back in the second round but the gap was too big to fill as she lost 7-10 and will have to pray that Adeniyi manages to reach the final. Looks difficult for Sakshi at this stage.
Women’s 62kg, Round of 16: Time for Sakshi Malik to kick off her campaign against Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria in a few minutes from now.
Men’s 57kg, Round of 32: What a start for Ravi Kumar. He completed a technical superiority win over Sunggwon Kim of Korea in just one round. He made the most of his reach and turned his opponent around with a leg grip to win 11-0.
Men’s 65kg, Round of 32: Bajrang Punia kicks off his campaign with a 9-2 win over Poland’s Krzysztof Bienkowski. He opened up a 5-0 lead in the first round after Bienkowski challenged a call and it was rejected. The Polish grappler got 2 points immediately after the restart but Bajrang was never to be denied.
Women’s 68kg, Round of 16: Divya Kakran had a difficult opening bout against Olympic champion Sara Dosho of Japan. The Indian had lost rather easily last time, she stood strong on her defence on Thursday but faced the shot clock twice due to passivity and lost the bout 2-0.
Divya would be hoping that Dosho reaches the final and she can make it to the repechage round.
10.50 am: While we wait for the likes of Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik to take the mat, here is Vinay Siwach on how Vinesh Phogat worked on her mind to clinch her first world championship medal.
59kg women update: Pooja Dhanda will take on China’s Xingru Pei in the bronze medal bout after she defeated Uzbekistan’s Gulnora Toshpulatova 13-0 by technical superiority.
Indians in Action today
Women
62kg, Round of 16: Sakshi Malik vs Aminat Adeniyi (NGR)
68kg, Round of 16: Divya Kakran vs Sara Dosho (JPN)
59kg, bronze medal match: Pooja Dhanda vs TBD
Men
57kg freestyle, Round of 32: Ravi Kumar vs Sunggwon Kim (KOR)
65kg freestyle, Round of 32: Bajrang Punia vs Krzysztof Bienkowski (POL)
With Vinesh Phogat securing India’s first Tokyo Olympic quota and also bagging a bronze medal, there were will be four more spots up for grabs on Day 6 of competition in NurSultan – two each in men and women.
India’s best medal hope in men’s freestyle wrestling, Bajrang Punia, will be in action in the 65 kg category and has been handed a decent draw.
Also, looking to seal her berth to Tokyo would be Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik. She will be competiting in the 62kg weight category and will look to make it to the semi-finals on Thursday to assure herself an Olympic berth.
Also in action would be Divya Kakran (68kg women) and Ravi Kumar (57kg men).
Later in the day, Pooja Dhanda would grapple for India’s second medal in the compeition when she participates in the bronze medal bout in the 59kg category.