India have now won three bronze medals in Nur Sultan.
57kg gold medal match: Zavur Uguev wins the gold medal with a 13-3 technical superiority lead over Atli. The Russian was completely dominant in the second period.
57kg bronze medal match: BRONZE MEDAL for Ravi Dahiya. Just like Bajrang, Ravi can keep wrestling with the same tempo. He does not relent in his attack against Reza Ahmadali Atrinagharchi and that ploy works wonderfully well for him as he clinches the medal with a 6-3 win.
57kg bronze medal match: Ravi takes a 2-0 lead into the break against the Iranian.
57kg bronze medal match: Ravi uses a counter attack to score his first two points after Atrinagharchi throws in a shot. But this match is going to only get more intense.
57kg bronze medal match: Nurislam Sanayev shows exceptional defensive skills in the second period to clinch the bronze medal beat Stevan Micic 4-3. And now its time for Amit Dahiya to clinch a medal in his first senior world championship.
57kg bronze medal match: Before Ravi Kumar Dahiya takes to the mat, we will have another bronze medal match between Serbia’s Micic and Sanayev of Kazakshtan.
Here is the match report on how Bajrang Punia clinched his third World Championship medal
65kg Gold Medal match: Russia’s Gadzhimurad Rashidov clinches the gold medal with a convincing win over local favourite Daulet Niyazbekov 11-0 (technical superiority) in just over one and half minute.
65kg Bronze medal match: Hungary’s Iszmail Muszukajev defeats defending world champion Takuto Otoguro 5-3 to clinch the second bronze medal. This match simply exploded in the second period but the Hungarian did well to keep the Japanese at bay.
65kg bronze medal match: BRONZE MEDAL for Bajrang. The Bajrang engine really kicks off in the second period. He was down 0-6 when he made his first move to make it 2-6 at the break. But then Bajrang exploded in the second period. Though the Mongolian Ochir managed to stave off two leg shots, Bajrang got him on the third attempt to take a 8-6 lead and then maintained that advantage to clinch the medal with a 8-7 victory
65kg bronze medal match: What a sequence that was. Ochir made a chest throw to score four points and Punia responded immediately with a counter to earn two points. Ochir leads 6-2 at the end of the first period.
65kg bronze medal match: Ochir strikes first taking 2 points in the first 15 seconds
6:25 pm: First up will be Bajrang Punia against Tulga Ochir. And he would be determined to put behind that controversial semi-final loss.
Here is Vinay Siwach’s explanation on how that semi-final panned out.
6:10 PM: Time for Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya to fight for the bronze medal. The men’s medal bouts for the 57 kg and 65 kg weight category will take place after the women’s medal rounds. Stay tuned.
Correction: In the 57kg bronze medal match, Ravi Kumar Dahiya will take on Reza Ahmadali Atrinagharchi. The medal rounds will start after the semi-finals of four other weight categories. Ravi Kumar’s match will be on Mat B
2.55 pm: This probably has been the worst possible morning session in seven days for the Indian contingent. Out of the four wrestlers who were in action in the morning, not a single one has manged to even get a repechage round.
Infact, apart from Parveen (92 kg) none of the other three managed to cross the first match hurdle while even Parveen lost in the second bout.
Indian wrestling fans would hope the Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya, who are scheduled to play their bronze medal bouts in the evening session will bring some cheer. They have already booked their Tokyo Olympic berths.
92kg update: And now Parveen’s hopes of making it to the repechage round have also been dashed after Liubomyr Sagaliuk goes down 2-12 (technical superiority) against Alireza Karimimachiani in the quarter-finals.
74kg update: That’s officially the end of the road for Sushil Kumar in the world championship. Khadzimurad Gadzhiyev did well to reach the quarter-finals but four-time world champion Jordan Burroughs was too big a challenge even for him and his 8-1 loss meant that Sushil was officially knocked out of the championship.
70 kg update: Karan Mor has been officially knocked out of the world championship after Ikhtiyor Navruzov, who had defeated him in the qualification round, loses his quarter-final bout against David Baev of Russia 11-5
74kg update: Khadzimurad Gadzhiyev has kept Sushil’s chances of making it to the repechage round alive after another hard-fought victory. The Azerbaijan wreslter got the better of Uzbekistan’s Abdurakhmnonov 12-9 in an end-to-end battle with a couple of four points throw. His biggest challenge would now be in the quarter-finals against USA’s Jordan Burroughs, who hasn’t been at his best so far but has managed to do enough to reach the last eight stage.
92kg, pre-quarterfinals: India’s hope of a medal from the four weight categories that started on Friday now depends solely on repechage rounds after Parveen lost to Ukraine’s Liubomyr Sagaliuk 8-0. Sumit Malik has already been knocked out in the 125 kg category.
92kg, pre-quarterfinals: Parveen is in trouble against Ukraine’s Liubomyr Sagaliuk. He hasn’t been able to make any inroads but the Ukraine has a 6 point lead after the first round.
125 kg update: Sumit Malik has been knocked out of the World Championship. Ligeti, who beat him in the qualifying, lost by fall against Khasanboy Rakhimov in the pre-quarterfinals.
70kg update: Navruzov, who defeated India’s Karan Mor in the qualification round, comes back from 2-6 down to beat Bulgaria’s Umarpashaev 7-6 and advance to quarter-finals. Karan stays alive in the hunt for a repechage round.
74kg update: Sushil’s hopes for a repechage stay alive after his first round conqueror, Khadzimurad Gadzhiyev, defeats Doner Demirtas 5-2 to reach the pre-quarterfinals.
57kg update: In the 57 kg bronze medal bout, Ravi Kumar Dahiya will take on Stevan Micic of Serbia after he defeated Italy’s Givi Davidoni 8-0 in the repechage round.
65kg update: Bajrang Punia will face Talga Tumur Ochir in the bronze medal match after the Mongolian defeated Alexander Semisorow of Germany in the repechage bout.
92kg, qualification round: That’s a convincing win for Praveen. The Korean tried to attack his legs but the Indian was very strong on his feet and turned those attacks into an advantage for himself, winning the bout on technical superiority after taking a 12-1 lead.
92kg, qualification round: Praveen has not only managed to keep Korean Sue at bay, he also managed two quick takedowns to take a 4-0 lead after round 1.
125kg, qualification round: Another loss for India. This time Sumit Malik goes down 2-0 against Daniel Ligeti. There was hardly any fight from the Indian and conceded both the points due to passivity count.
125kg, qualification round: Both Sumit Malik and Daniel Ligeti didn’t really do much to score points in those first three minutes. Legit, however, takes a one point lead in the break thanks to a passivity count for the Indian.
That image of Sushil hunching on his knees isn’t something Indian wrestling fans would like to watch. The two-time Olympics medallist clearly looked tired at the end of that bout.
74kg, qualification round: Given the fact that Sushil had a five point lead at the break, European championship bronze medallist Gadzhiyev had to go for quick attacks and he scored six points in the first two minutes after the restart. He then clinched another by moving Sushil out of the mat to clinch the bout 11-9.
Things look difficult for Sushil now as Gadzhiyev will have to reach the final for the Indian to have a shot at that Olympics berth.
74kg, qualification round: Sushil is no longer quick on his feet. And that cost him two takedowns in the first three minutes. But then he managed to throw Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev to score four points. At the break, the referees confer with the chair umpire and decide to give Sushil another four points for a late throw. The Uzbek challenged the call but loses the challenge and Sushil leads 9-4 at the break now
11.17 AM: But don’t go away for long. Sushil Kumar would be opening his campaign on Mat B after two more bouts and you won’t want to miss him in action.
70kg, qualification round: Karan got another passivity penalty after the break and had to go for broke in the last one minute. That allowed Navruzov to counter attack and get couple of more points to win the bout 7-0. Not a good start for India.
70kg, qualification round: There was hardly any action in the first 2 and half minutes of the bout with Karan penalised for passivity. Navruzov managed a take down in the last few seconds to take a 3-0 lead at the break.
70kg, qualification round: Karan Mor will kick off India’sc campaign on the seventh day of competition against Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan on Mat B in the next 10 minutes
Here is a glimpse of what Sushil Kumar’s opponents and their coaches think about the Indian wrestler.
“Everyone remembers him” a Russian team coach told Scroll.in. “He may be old but he is a beast. Amazing style and character. Nobody knows if you say Sushil but everyone knows Kumar. There is only one Kumar.”
Indian wrestling contingent had one of the most fruitful day in office at the World Championship in Nursultan on Thursday when Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57kg) and Bajrang Punia (65kg) bagged two Tokyo Olympic quotas.
The duo lost their respective semi-finals but would be fighting for a bronze medal later in the day today.
But all eyes will be on India’s only two-time individual Olympics medallist Sushil Kumar, who would be contesting his first World Championship in the 74kg weight category.
The 2010 world champion in 66 kg weight category, Sushil is attempting to qualify for the Olympics eight years after the London Games. However, his form hasn’t been something to talk about as he lost in the first round in the 2018 Asian Games and haven’t been on fire in any of the preparatory tournaments he participated in.
Here is the schedule of all the wrestlers who would be taking the mat on Friday.
Indians in action on Friday
Men’s Freestyle
70kg, qualification round: Karan vs Ikhtiyor Navruzov (UZB)
74kg, qualification round: Sushil Kumar vs Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev (AZE)
92kg, qualification round: Praveen vs Changjae Sue (KOR)
125kg, qualification round: Sumit Malik vs Daniel Ligeti (HUN)
57 kg, bronze medal match: Ravi Kumar vs TBD
65kg, bronze medal match: Bajrang Punia vs TBD