Ashu wins bronze in Zagreb, other fighters disappoint

Asian Championships bronze medalist Ashu won a 67kg bronze medal for India in the Greco-Roman category on the final day of the Zagreb Open qualifying series here on Sunday. The 23-year-old wrestler added a second bronze to India’s tally by defeating Lithuania’s Adomas Grigliaunas 5-0. In the freestyle category, U-23 world champion wrestler Aman Sehrawat won a bronze medal in the men’s 57kg on the opening day of the competition. Ashu was thrashed 9-0 by Iran’s Reza Mahdi Abbasi in the qualifying round, he performed brilliantly in the repechage round.

He beat Hungarian Adam Foylec 8-0 before defeating Norwegian Howard Jørgensen 9-0 to seal his place in the bronze medal round. The Indian wrestler scored three points in the first period and two in the second period after which he was declared ‘Winner by Decision’ by all the judges. In the Greco-Roman category, however, Sagar (63 kg) lost in the repechage round to the Austrian Aker Sasmid Al Obaidi. He got this opportunity when his quarterfinal opponent Arif Hossein Khoun Mohammadi of Iran reached the final.

In other bouts on Sunday, Asian Championships bronze medalist Sushma Shokeen lost in the quarterfinals of the women’s 53kg category. She was defeated by Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medalist Samantha Stewart of Canada. India’s run of disappointment continued in the women’s 72kg as well. Fighter Ritika failed to make it to the semifinals via the round-robin format, while Kiran (76kg) also failed to advance. Greco-Roman wrestlers Manjeet (55kg), Gyanendra (60kg), Ankit Gulia (72kg) and Narinder Cheema (97kg) also returned empty-handed from the event. All of them failed to qualify for the medal stage in their respective weight classes.

Disclaimer:Prabhasakshi has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.