Indian wrestlers win 2 gold, 4 silver in Bulgaria

Bajrang Punia (65 kg) and Pooja Dhanda (59 kg) claimed gold medals in their respective categories in freestyle competitions on Saturday. Indian women finished fifth by logging 65 points in freestyle competitons. Indian woman wrestler Seema obtained 15th position in 53 kg freestyle category.

Indian wrestlers failed to grab any podium position in Greco-Roman style competitions. Akash Antil (97 kg) finished ninth while Deepak Punia was 13th in 87 kg. Vinod Kumar and jatinder got 16th and 26th spots respectively in 72 kg class.

Vinesh (53 kg), Sarita (59) Sakshi Malik (65 kg) and Sandeep Tomar (61 kg) bagged silver medals in their respective classes in freestyle competitions.

Bajrang Punia outclassed Jordan Oliver to claim gold in the 65 kg freestyle section. Punia's feat, Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sakshi clinched a silver medal in the 65 kg category while Pooja Dhanda won a gold in the 59 kg.

Facing Henna Johansson of Sweden, Sarita Malik was beaten to the gold medal 3-8. Besides the silver medal, Malik will also take back some confidence after beating reigning World and European Champion Petra Olli of Finland in the semifinals.

“The win over World Champion Olli has given me a lot of confidence and will keep me in good stead for the upcoming Asian Championships,” said Malik. What was notable of her feat in Bulgaria was that she competed in a category higher than her usual 62 kg. “From here we have trials in India for the Asian Championships and then another event in USA so to lose weight thrice in one month or so would affect my performance as there would be lot of diet control and that affects training too,” explained Sakshi.

With an eye on Tokyo Olympics, Malik said performing at tournaments leading to World Championships in 2019 would help her secure a berth at 2020 Games. "I want to seal my berth for Tokyo at the World Championships in September 2019, and performing at such tournaments will help me a lot," said Malik.

Pooja Dhanda won a gold in the event as she went undefeated in the 59 kg category in a round-robin format. On her way to gold, she beat compatriot Sarita Mor, Kornelija Zaicevaute of Lithuania while Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova didn’t turn up for the bout.

Olympic champion Kyle Snyder sealed the Dan Kolov team title for the United States (147 points) with a 4-0 shutout win over Ukraine’s Valerii Andriitsev in the 97 kg gold-medal bout.

In the finals, Snyder won the position battle and capitalized on four one-point exchanges to join fellow Americans Jordan BURROUGHS and Alex DIEREINGER as Dan Kolov freestyle champions.

Russia finished runners-up with 115 points while Turkey got third position with 100 points in men's freestyle competitions.

In women’s wrestling, Pang Qianyu and Rong Ningning steered China to the team title with their gold-medal performance on the final day of wrestling in Ruse.

In the 53 kg finals, Pang Qianyu trailed India’s Vinesh 2-0 after the opening frame but scored nine unanswered points and gave China their first Dan Kolov women’s wrestling title of the weekend.

On her lone scoring sequence of the match, Pang grabbed a takedown from a high-level shot and fell right into a left side trapped arm gut wrench. The Chinese wrestler rolled Vinesh with a trio of gut wrenches and gained control of the match, 8-2. A failed Indian challenge brought the score to 9-2, which is where the 53kg gold medal bout ended.

China won the team trophy with 112 points and Ukraine secured runners-up trophy by garnering 92 points. United States were third with 77 points and Turkey were fourth with 75 points. India earned fifth slot with 65 points.

Results: Men (Freestyle) : 59 kg: 1 Beka Bujiashvili (Georgia), 2 Suleyman Atli (Turkey), 3 Armen Arakelian (Ukraine) Georgi Valentinov Vangelov (Bulgaria).

61 kg: 1 Nurislam Sanayev (Kaz), 2 Sandeep Tomar (India), 3 Volodymyr Burukov (Ukraine) and Aryian Tiutrin (Russia).

65 kg: 1 Bajrang Punia (India), 2 Jordan Michael Oliver (USA), 3 Niurhun Skrabin (Belarus) and Bernard Walter Futrell (USA).

70 kg: 1 Ilias Bekbulatov (Russia), 2 Anzor Zakuev (Russia), 3 Viktor Rassadin (Russia) and James Malcolm Green (USA).

74 kg: 1 Jordan Ernest Burroughs (USA), 2 Bekzod Abdurakhmonov (Uzbekistan), 3 Frank Chamizo Marquez (Italy) and Yakup Gor (Turkey).

79 kg: 1 Alexander David Dieringer (USA), 2 Omaraskhab Nazhmudinov (Romania), 3 Nika Kentchadze (Georgia) and Atsamaz Sanakoev (Russia).

86 kg: 1 Hassan Aliazam Yazdanicharati (Iran), 2 Ali Shabanau (Belarus), 3 Akhmed Aibuev (France) and Boris Makoev (Slovakia).

92 kg: 1 Magomed Guseynovitch Kurbanov (Russia), 2 Irakli Mtsituri (Georgia), 3 Michael Justin Macchiavello (USA) and Ibrahim Bolukbasi (Turkey).

97 kg: 1 Kyle Frederick Snyder (USA), 2 Valerii Andhriitsev (Ukraine), 3 Murazi Mchedlidze (Ukraine) and Reza Mohammad Ali Yazdani (Irain).

125 kg: 1 Parviz Khodavirdi Hadibasmanj (Iran), 2 Oleksandr Khitsianivskyi (Ukraine), 3 Said Gamidovitch Gamidov (Russia) and Daniel Ligeti (Hungary).

Positions: 1 United States (147 points), 2 Russia (115 points), 3 Turkey (100 points), 4 Ukraine (88 points), 5 Georgia (80 points).

Greco-Roman: 55 kg: 1 Vitalii Kabaloev (Russia), 2 Khorlan Zhakansha (Kazakhstan), 3 Asan Sulaimanov (Kyrgyzstan) and Amangali Bekbolatov (Kazakhstan).

60 kg: 1 Sergey Emelin (Russia), 2 Sailike Walihan (China), 3 Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan) and Rustam Teiishov (Kyrgyzstan).

63 kg: 1 Sergey Emelin (Russia), 2 Sailike Walihan (China), 3 Zholaman Sharshenbekov (Kyrgyzstan) and Rustam Teiishov (Kyrgyzstan).

67 kg: 1 Gevorg Sahakyan (Poland), 2 Artem Surkov (Russia), 3 Konstantin Ivanovich Stas (Bulgaria) and Meiirzhan Shermankhanbet (Kazakhstan).

72 kg: 1 Abuiazid Mantsigov (Russia), 2 Aik Mnatsakanian (Bulgaria), 3 Hujun Zhang (China) and Ruslan Tsarev (Kyrgyzstan). 16 Vinod Kumar Omprakash (India), 26 Jitender (India).

77 kg: 1 Daniel Tihomirov Aleksandrov (Bulgaria), 2 Roman Vlasov (Russia), 3 Daniel Cataraga (Moldova) and Tamerlan Shadukayev (Kazakhstan).

82 kg: 1 Aleksandr Andreevitch Komarov (Russia), 2 Haitao Qian (China), 3 Hasan Berk Kilinc (Turkey) and Sargis Kocharyan (Armania).

87 kg: 1 Maksim Manukyan (Armania), 2 Masato Sumi (Japan), 3 Junjie Na (China) and Khussein Mutsolgov (Kazakhstan). 13 Deepak Punia (India).

97 kg: 1 Musa Evloev (Russia), 2 Nikita Melnikov (Russia), 3 Uzur Dzhzupbekov (Kyrgystan) and Mihail Kajala (Serrbia). 9 Akash Antil (India).

130 kg: 1 Murat Ramonov (Kyrgystan), 2 Abdellatif Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed (Egypt), 3 Vitalii Shchur (Russia) and Miloslav Yuriev Metodiev (Bulgaria).

Women (freestyle): 50 kg; 1 Iwona Nina Matkowska (Poland), 2 Erin Simone Golston (USA), 3 Evin Demirhan (Turkey) and Whitney Conder (USA).

53 kg: 1 Qianyu Pang (China), 2 Vinesh (India), 3 Sarah Ann Hilddebrandt (USA) and Vanesa Kaladzinskaya (Belarus). 15 Seema (India).

55 kg: 1 Maria Prevolaraki (Greece), 2 Marina Sedneva (Kazakhstan), 3 Zhuldyz Eshimova (Kazakhstan) and Roksana Marta Zzsina (Poland).

57 kg: 1 Ningning Rong (China), 2 Grace Jacob Bullen (Norway), 3 Iryna Kurachkina (Belarus) and Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye (NIgeria).

59 kg: 1 Pooja Dhanda (India), 2 Sarita (India), 3 Kornelija Zaicevite (Uthuania) and Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan).

62 kg: 1 Yuliia Tkach Ostapchuk (Ukraine), 2 Taybe Mustafa Yusein (Bulgaria), 3 Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan) and Xingru Pei (China).

65 kg: 1 Henna Katarina Johansson (Sweden), 2 Sakshi Malik (India), 3 Forrest Ann Molinari (USA) and Petra Maarit Olli (Finland).

68 kg: 1 Tamyra Mariama Mensah (USA), 2 Bakhtigul Baltaniyazova (Uzbekistan), 3 Alla Cherkasova (Ukraine) and Adela Hanzlickova Czechia (Kyrgyzstan).

72 kg: 1 Buse Tosun (Turkey), 2 Alina Berezhna Stadnik Makhynia (Ukraine), 3 Chuchu Yan (China) and Maria Selmaier (Germany).

75 kg: 1 Yasemin Adar (Turkey), 2 Paliha (China), 3 Elmira Syzdykova (Kazakhstan) and Aline Rotter Focken (Germany).

Positions: 1 China (112 points), 2 Ukraine (92 points), 3 United States (77 points), 4 Turkey (75 points), 5 India (65 points).

Image Credit: Bajrang Punia Twitter