SPORTS

New Delhi: Rahul Aware on Monday bagged a bronze medal to ensure that India’s best-ever medal haul at the World Wrestling Championship after young Deepak Punia settled for silver having pulled out of final due to injury. Aware outclassed Tyler Lee Graff, the 2017 Pan- America champion, 11-4 in the 61kg bronze play-off to take India’s tally to five medals.

India’s previous best show was in 2013, when the country had three in their kitty courtesy Amir Dahiya (silver), Bajrang Punia (bronze) and Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (bronze in Greco-Roman). Aware was in complete control of the bout and jumped in joy at the end, having won the biggest medal of his career.

The Maharashtra grappler had won a gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and two bronze at the Asian Championships (2009, 2011).

New Delhi: Reigning junior world champion Deepak Punia placed himself in line for the senior world title by reaching the 86 kg final apart from booking his Tokyo Olympics quota, here on Saturday. Competing in his maiden senior world championship, Deepak moved to the final with a commanding 8-2 win over Switzerland's Stefan Reichmuth. He will fight for the title against 2016 Rio Olympics 74kg gold medallist Hassan Yazdanicharati of Iran on Sunday. Yazdanicharati had also won 2018 Asian Games 86kg gold.

It has been a steady progress for Deepak, who won the World Cadet title in 2016 and became junior world champion only last month in Estonia. He can now emulate double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar who is till now the only Indian to have won a World Championships title in 2010. The 20-year old Deepak also ensured that India will return from the World Championship with its best ever performance as the country is now assured of four medals. Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya have already won a bronze medal each. All of them qualified for the Tokyo Olympics as well.

New Delhi: Indian wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar sealed their berths in next year’s Olympics in Tokyo by reaching semifinals at World Wrestling Championships at Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan. While Bajrang defeated North Korea’s Jong Son 8-2 in his 65 kg quarterfinal bout to earn his maiden Olympics berth, Ravi defeated Japan’s Yuki Takahashi 6-1 in the 57 kg quarters. But both the wrestlers lost in their semifinals bout, and failed to reach the final.

While Punia controversially lost to Kazakhstan’s Daulet Niyazbekov 9-9 in the semifinal bout via criteria point - a four point move, Ravi also went down Russia’s Zavur Uguev 4-6. Both the wrestlers will compete for a bronze medal on Friday.

Punia was trailing 2-9 following a four-point move to Niyazbekov which was reviewed by the Indian grappler. The Kazakh wrestler received multiple warnings from the referee for fouls, but Punia was not awarded points, for the same. After the defeat, the Indian wrestler looked visibly miffed with the refereeing.

New Delhi: Vinesh Phogat’s fight against the world No 1 was six minutes of pure thrill. When Vinesh attacked she did it with ferocity and speed. When she defended—which she did for much of the fight—she did it with tenacity and aggression to secure her place for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

If there was one bout Vinesh Phogat has yearned for in the last three years, it was this one—her second repechage round at Nur Sultan—win it, and it would take her to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It was as difficult an opportunity as could be; she had to overcome the world No 1 and top seed, USA’s Sarah Ann Hildebrandt. In a match that had no place for half-measures, Vinesh went all out—not only did she make the qualification cut, she also won the next match for her first ever World Championship medal.

Hildebrandt got hold of her right leg a number of times but was never allowed a firm enough grip; instead, she found Vinesh leaning into her and combatively reaching for her ankles, sometimes lifting the US wrestler off the ground and throwing her off balance. When the tall Hildebrandt used all her force to push and get control of a move, Vinesh went into a gymnastic split to dismantle it. It was a sequence that was played out throughout the six minutes.

New Delhi: Wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya on Friday claimed a bronze medal on his debut World Championships by stunning Asian Champion Reza Atri Nagarchi of Iran. Dahiya defeated his fancied rival 6-3 in the bronze medal bout of the men’s 57kg freestyle category. Earlier in the day, a consistent Bajrang Punia registered his third medal at the World Wrestling Championships by winning a bronze in the men’s 65kg freestyle category.

Bajrang defeated Tulga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia 8-7 in the bronze medal bout. Bajrang had earlier won a bronze in 2013 before clinching a silver in the 2018 edition.

Meet Ravi Dahiya, a man of few words but talent in abundance

New Delhi: Vinesh Phogat (53kg) and Seema Bisla (50kg) remained in the hunt for a bronze medal as they reached the repechage round in their respective categories at the UWW World Senior Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh had earlier begun her quest for a maiden medal from the world event with a thunderous 13-0 win over Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson of Sweden. Even though it sparked hopes of gold, her next bout against the reigning world champion Mayu Mukaida of Japan proved tough.

The strong Japanese kept the Indian on the backfoot and prevented her from showing her usual aggression, resulting in a 0-7 loss for the Commonwealth Games gold medallist. This was the second consecutive defeat that Vinesh suffered at the hands of Mukaida following the Asian Championships.

New Delhi: India’s Sourabh Verma registered a thrilling three-game win over China’s Sun Fei Xiang to claim the men’s singles title at the USD 75,000 Vietnam Open BWF Tour Super 100 badminton tournament on Sunday. Second seed Sourabh, who has won the Hyderabad Open and Slovenian International earlier this year, recovered from a mid-game slump to beat Sun 21-12 17-21 21-14 in the summit clash which lasted an hour and 12 minutes. “I am very happy with the way, I played this week. I played three Japanese and these players have similar kind of style. Most like to attack and the little differences in their style is something you have to figure out on the court. So it was nice to beat them,” Sourabh said.

He beat three Japanese shuttlers -- Kodai Naraoka, Yu Igarashi and Minoru Koga -- on way to his title win. “The final was a tough match but I am happy I could play my game and come out victories. This title will give a boost to my confidence,” the Indian said.