India endured yet another disappointing day at the World Wrestling Championships with none of the freestyle wrestlers, including medal favourite Bajrang Punia, reaching the finals of their respective events, on Saturday.
Three-time World Championships medallist Punia lost in the quarterfinal of the 65kg event to USA’s Yianni Diakomihalis but is still in contention to win bronze via repechage after the American reached the final.
In his first bout, Punia suffered a cut to the head which left him bleeding and required extensive attention from medics to stop the bleeding. But he went on to win the bout against Alejandro Valdes 5-4 on points.
Heavily bandaged for the quarterfinal, Punia was no match for Diakomihalis who secured a win via technical superiority.
Punia will feature in the repechage rounds on Sunday.
In the men’s 74kg bronze medal bout, Sagar Jaglan lost to Iran’s Yones Emamichoghaei 3-0, losing out on a medal.
Pankaj Malik (61kg) and Vicky Chahar (97kg) both lost their qualification matches in the final seconds of their bouts. Malik led Kazakhstan’s Assyl Aitakyn 4-0 at one stage. Aitakyn won three points going into the final 15 seconds before he pulled of a takedown with three seconds on the clock to win the bout.
Chahar led 2-1 going into the last 10 seconds but was then pushed off the mat by Samuel Scherrer for a point. The bout ended 2-2 but since the Swiss wrestler won the last point, he took the bout by criteria.
