Yasar Dogu wrestling: India’s Ravi Kumar Dahiya wins gold
The Tokyo 2020 silver medallist beat Uzbekistan’s Gulomjon Abdullaev in a close men’s 61kg final. Bajrang Punia pulled out of the 65kg category due to a niggle.
Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya won the men’s 61kg gold medal at the Yasar Dogu 2022 ranking series in Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday.
Ravi Kumar Dahiya, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, was in a dominating mood from the start and cruised past countryman Mangal Kadyan in the qualifiers.
The Indian wrestler recorded back-to-back main draw victories over Italy’s Shamil Makhmudovitch Omarov (7-2), USA’s Nicholas Daniel Megaludis (10-2) and Iran’s Mohammadbagher Esmaeil Yakhkeshi (by fall). That pitted Ravi Kumar Dahiya up against Uzbekistani grappler Gulomjon Abdullaev, a former junior Asian champion, in the gold medal match.
In the medal bout, Ravi Kumar Dahiya edged out Abdullaev by a tight 11-10 scoreline to become the new Yasar Dogu champion.
Mangal Kadyan, meanwhile, made the repechage courtesy Ravi Kumar Dahiya reaching the final but lost out to Omarov.
Besides Ravi Kumar Dahiya, two other Indian wrestlers - Deepak Punia (92kg) and Aman (57kg) - won bronze medals on Sunday.
Tokyo Olympics semi-finalist Deepak Punia made the bronze medal match through repechage after losing his quarter-final match against Iran’s Ahmad Yousef Bazrighaleh.
Deepak Punia beat Kyrgyzstan’s Mirlan Chynybekov in the repechage before downing Kazakhstan’s Elkhan Assadov 7-1 in the medal bout to earn a podium finish.
India’s Viky was also competing in the 92kg division and bowed out in the quarter-finals.
In the 57kg division, Aman lost to Georgia’s Beka Bujiashvili in the semis but managed to beat Mongolia’s Zanabazar Zandanbud 10-5 to win the bronze medal.
The men’s 74kg division saw Pritam make it to the semi-finals before losing to world championships bronze medallist Fazli Eryilmaz of Turkey. Up against two-time Asian championships medallist Islambek Orozbekov in the medal bout, the Indian grappler lost by technical superiority.
India’s Rohit had a good run in men’s 65kg, winning two matches, but was eventually ousted by Kazakh wrestler Ikromzhon Khadzhimurodov in the quarter-finals.
Tokyo bronze medallist Bajrang Punia was set to be India’s second entry in the 65kg, but the Indian ace had pulled out due to a leg injury he picked up during practice.
Vishal Kaliramana (70kg), Gourav Blaiyan (79kg), Sandeep Singh (86kg) all bowed out after their first bouts.
The three podium finishes on Sunday took India’s medals tally at the Yasar Dogu 2022 to four. Gyanender won a bronze in Greco Roman 60kg on Day 1.
Yasar Dogu 2022 wrestling: India’s medal winners
Ravi Kumar Dahiya - gold (men’s 61kg)
Deepak Punia - bronze (men’s 92kg)
Aman - bronze (men’s 57kg)
Gyanender - bronze (Greco Roman 60kg)