India finished with a whopping Nine Medals at the recently concluded U23 World Wrestling Championships, which includes 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 7 Bronze Medals
Here’s we look at the performance in each category of Men Freestyle and Women Wrestling.
Starting with Women’s wrestling
WW-50kg:
Umi Ito (Japan) and Sage Raine Mortimer (USA) were clearly the two best wrestlers on show. Umi Ito, who pinned Komal, should have ideally won gold- she was dominant vs Mortimer in the SF and was inches away from a technical superiority victory, when she got too ambitious and got pinned.
In her sole victory, Komal showed some flashes- an excellent 4-point throw; but plenty of work needs to be done before she can step up.
WW-53kg:
Hansika Lamba had a tough opening round vs Otgontuya Chinbold of Mongolia; she ran the eventually gold medallist very close- losing the SF because of conceding the last point in the dying seconds.
WW-55kg:
Bhavika Patel had already created history by being there- first time a Gujarati wrestler was competing for India at any level (at least in recent times).
Emma Malmgren, Paris Olympian, was overwhelming favourite here. Oleksandra Khomenets, former 55 kg senior silver medallist from 2022, ran her close.
WW-57kg:
Neha Sharma came with pedigree- silver in 55kg in 2023. She lost 3-2 vs Japan’s Ruka Natami- if not for a passivity point, she could have won. A well deserved bronze! There was nothing much to choose between the 4 medallists.
WW-59kg:
Anjli won India’s shiniest medal from the women’s side here. This field had the gold medallist from 2023- Solomiia Vynnykfrom Ukraine. Anjli’s hard fought victory against China’s Hong Liang was particularly entertaining.
It was going to be tough vs Vynnyk- it was another close match.
There was no Indian entrant in 62kg
WW-65kg:
Like Emma Malmgren in 55 kg, this category also had a Paris Olympian in Irina Ringaci. She also has a world championship gold from 2021 (not the most competitive though). Makes you question why she is competing in U23 after a decent senior CV. Not unsurprising that Ringaci won gold.
Shiksha is just 17 and didn’t disgrace herself by losing to Ringaci in the SF. She had 2 wins by fall and won the bronze medal match vs Japan’s Rin Teramoto. Keep an eye on her!
WW-68kg:
Japan’s Ami Ishii also has senior pedigree and was overwhelming favourite. Monika had to face her wrath in the qualification rounds and was pinned.
She made a good comeback in the repechage with 3 consecutive wins to win bronze. She had a sticky situation in the bronze medal match and won in the dying 10 seconds.
WW-72kg:
It was a tournament to forget for Kritika Jamwal. When she lost her first match against Japanese opponent, she would have hoped for repechage. Unfortunately, the Japanese lost a narrow fight in the next round.
The reigning U23 champion is this category is an Olympic champion now- Amit Elor of the USA. Her compatriot, Kylie Rene Welker had huge shoes to fill and did not do too bad herself- she won the whole thing.
WW-76kg:
Priya’s performance was underwhelming to put it mildly. For a while she was spoken in the same breath as Reetika but she seems to have fallen behind. Yelena Makoyed of the US was utterly dominant, pinning all her opponents on the way to gold.
Result One Silver and Three Bronze Medals in Women Wrestling
Now Lets look at Men’s Freestyle
FS-57kg:
At just 18 years of age, Chirag Chikkara has emulated Aman Sehrawat to become India’s 2nd world champion in men’s freestyle (3rd overall). Chirag last competed for India in the U17 world championships in 2021, where he won bronze.
We tried to find out (online) what he was doing for the past 3 years but got nothing. It sure must have been good, looking at his performance at Tirana.
His final opponent, Karachov had a tougher route to the final (vs Iran and USA) and gave Chirag an extremely tough fight, but Chirag came home with a Gold.
FS-61kg:
Abhishek Dhaka previously has won a world bronze at the U20 level and came here looking to do better.
Magomodev(AIN) and Abdullaev (Azerbaijan) were the clear best 2 in the draw and Abhishek had a settle for a heard-earned bronze.
FS-65kg:
Mohit was U20 world champion in 2023 but at Tirana, he had to face far tougher wrestlers.
He lost to Iranian Ebrahim zadehsavadkouhi, he was totally outclassed. He would have to compete with Sujeet in this category in the future and currently he is still not at that level.
FS-70kg:
A lot was expected of Sujeet Kalkal here- he almost qualified for the Olympics earlier this year.
I feel he and Rohit are India’s future at 65kg. Sujeet faced a tough Mahomed Khaniev in the SF- Sujeet almost pulled off a move in the last 15 seconds which could have been enough for victory.
Unfortunately he ended up getting pinned. He recovered well to win bronze.
FS-74kg:
It was a trial by fire for Sukhpal Jinjala. He got teched in the qualification round by someone, who himself got teched in the next round. Jaideep and Naveen are far better currently in this category. Sukhpal is just 18- you never know if he will step it up.
FS-79, 86, 92, 125 kg:
As we move towards the heavier weights, India is not the strongest in the world, by a stretch.
18-year-old Sahil Dalal(79 kg) was beaten by eventual bronze medallist, ArsenBalaian (AIN- read Russia).
It was not pretty viewing. Deepak in 86 kg was slightly better, winning 2 bouts, but we are someway away from being taken seriously in these weights. Deepak Punia seems to have lost his mojo and we have not found anyone, remotely close to his best form. You can copy, paste same as above for Sumit in 92 kg.
Anirudh in 125 kg had a truly rough draw- he faced the two best wrestlers in the draw in his two matches- Amirreza of Iran in the qualification and Kurbanov (AIN) in the repechage- both tech defeats.
FS- 97kg:
Vicky at 97kg is a small ray of hope. He has been competing for India in the senior and age-group level for some time with not much success.
Here he made use of a decent draw to win a precious bronze.
Written By Sundaram
