U23 World Wrestling Championships 2021: Women shine as India end campaign with five medals
India’s Mohit lost in the men’s 125kg freestyle bronze medal match on the final day of the event while Parveen Malik couldn’t make it past repechage in the 74kg division.
Indian wrestlers secured five medals, one silver and four bronze, at the U23 World Wrestling Championships 2021 in Belgrade, Serbia, to mark India’s most successful outing at the junior meet to date.
All of India’s medals at the Belgrade meet came via the women’s wrestlers. Shivani Pawar won silver in 50kg while Anju, Divya Kakran, Radhika and Nisha picked up bronze medals in the 55kg, 62kg, 65kg and 72kg weight classes, respectively.
India’s Greco-Roman and men’s freestyle grapplers drew blank.
Heading into the final day of the meet on Sunday, Indian wrestlers had the opportunity to add two more medals to the tally with Parveen Malik and Mohit competing in the men’s 74kg and 125kg freestyle repechage rounds, respectively.
Both, however, failed to convert their chance into a medal.
Mohit started his day with a 10-0 win via technical superiority against Kazakhstan’s Bakdaulet Osserbay in the repechage and advanced to the bronze medal match.
Facing Iran’s Seyedmehdi Seyedabasali Hashemijouybari for a place on the podium, Mohit went down 6-3.
Former junior Asian champion Parveen Malik’s day, meanwhile, ended early as the Indian lost 18-8 (technical superiority) to Poland’s Szymon Wojtkowski in his repechage bout.
India had won three medals at the inaugural 2017 edition of the under-23 event, just one in 2018 and two in 2019. The 2020 edition was scrapped due to COVID-19.