World Wrestling Championships: Ravinder makes repechage round, others fall short
With the former world junior champion Daton Fix qualifying for the final, the Indian wrestler entered the repechage round in the 61kg freestyle segment.
Despite his quarter-final loss, India’s Ravinder will have a chance to win a bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships 2021 in Oslo, Norway on Sunday.
The Indian wrestler suffered a 0-10 loss by technical superiority to Daton Fix of the USA in the last eight of the 61kg men’s freestyle event at the Jordal Amfi.
But with the former junior world champion making the final, Ravinder made it into the repechage round where he will face the winner of the bout between Bulgaria’s Georgi Vangelov and Arman Eloyan of France.
If the Indian wins, he will then face Arsen Harutyunyan of Armenia for the bronze medal.
On Saturday, facing the silver medallist from the 2014 Youth Olympics Daton Fix, Ravinder hardly found his rhythm as the American registered a fine win in under two minutes.
Ravinder, however, showed his quality earlier in the competition to oust the reigning world champion in the weight division, Beka Lomtadze of Georgia, in the round of 16. The Indian wrestler registered a 6-2 win over the Georgian.
Barring Ravinder, Indians in three other weight divisions endured opening-round losses in Oslo.
In the 74kg division, Yash lost to Timur Bizhoev of the Russian Wrestling Federation (RWF) 0-7 while Anirudh Kumar was no match for Egypt’s Youssif Hemida in the 125kg category. He lost his first-round bout 3-9.
Meanwhile, in the 86kg freestyle segment, Sandeep Singh Mann succumbed to South Korea’s Kim Gwanuk. The Korean got the better of the Indian national champion in the 74kg freestyle category, 5-4.