Asian Wrestling Championships 2023: Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers win three medals on opening day

Rupin headlined the Indian Greco-Roman challenge on the opening day of the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan on Sunday by winning a silver medal in the 55kg category.

Rupin had a solid run at the continental meet. He defeated Sardarbek Konushbaev of Kyrgyzstan by 16-7 technical superiority in the qualification round. The Indian wrestler then beat Kazakhstan’s Amangali Bekbolatov 6-4 and China’s Haifeng Zhang 3-1 in the quarter-finals and the semis, respectively.

In the final, the 19-year-old Rupin lost 3-1 to the reigning U-23 world champion Pouya Dadmarz of Iran and settled for his first medal in the international senior circuit.

India won three medals from the five Greco-Roman events that were conducted on the day.

In the 63kg, Neeraj Chhikara won the bronze after he bested Jinseub Song of Korea 5-2 in the medal match. Earlier, Neeraj Chhikara defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Dastan Kadyrov 7-6 in the qualification round but lost to Iman Hossein Khoon Mohammadi of Iran by 9-0 technical superiority in the quarters. 

Neeraj made the bronze medal bout after Iman Hossein Khoon Mohammadi, who eventually won the gold medal, made the final.

Sunil Kumar, an Asian champion in 2020, also won a bronze medal after he defeated Masato Sumi of Japan in the medal match of the 87kg category. Earlier, Sunil Kumar upstaged Saidislomiddin Aslamov of Tajikistan by 9-1 technical superiority. The Indian grappler then went down to two-time Asian champion Naser Alizadeh of Iran 7-2 in the semis.

Sajan Bhanwala didn’t impress in the 77kg. He lost 3-1 in the qualification round to Amin Yavar Kaviyaninejad of Iran and couldn’t capitalise on the repechage opportunity either, going down 4-1 to Rui Liu of China.

Naveen Sevlia, competing in the 130kg, was ousted in the opener after he fell 5-3 to Temurbek Nasimov of Uzbekistan.

The remaining five Greco-Roman weight categories will be contested on Monday. The women’s and men’s freestyle events will be held later in the week.

Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers won five medals – all bronze – at last year’s Asian championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.