Veer Dev Gulia will take on Yamasaki Yajuro of Japan in his bronze medal bout. (Source: Reuters)
Two Indian wrestlers Veer Dev Gulia and Ravinder made it to the bronze medal round of their respective weight categories on day one of the Junior World Wrestling Championships in Tampere, Finland on Tuesday.
Ravinder put up a dominating show in his quarterfinal, pre-quarterfinal and qualification bouts to storm into the semifinals of men’s 60kg freestyle category, before losing to Steven McKee of USA 14-16 in the last four stage.
En route to semifinals, Ravinder had beaten Seokki Yoon of Korea 12-2, Ali Rahimzade of Azerbaijan 5-4 and Tsogbadrakh Tseveensuren of Mongolia 2-2.
In his bronze-medal bout, Ravinder will take on Hiromu Sakaki of Japan. Gulia, however, made the bronze medal
Gulia, however, made the bronze medal playoffs of men’s 74kg freestyle after his quarterfinal round opponent Isa Shapiev of Uzbekistan reached the gold medal round. Gulia started off well by beating Johann Christoph Steinforth of Germany 6-2 in the 1/8 stage but lost in the quarterfinals 0-11 to the Uzbek wrestler.
But with Shapiev entering the gold medal round, Gulia got another chance and took full advantage of it by defeating Ty Stuart Bridgwater of Canada 5-0 in his repechage bout.
Gulia will take on Yamasaki Yajuro of Japan in his bronze medal bout.
Other Indians in the fray today Suraj Aswala (50kg) and Monu (96kg) bowed out of the tournament early.
