Greco-Roman wrestlers draw blank at World Wrestling Championships

The Indian athletes failed to deliver on Day 7 of the tournament.

The Indian male wrestlers had yet another off day at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships on Thursday in Oslo, Norway. Ravi and Sonu lost in the qualification round, Gyanender kept the hopes alive for a while, before losing in the pre-quarterfinals. The Indian male wrestling contingent is still looking for its first medal in the tournament. 

Up against South Korea's Jung Jin-woong in the qualification round, the experienced Gyanender looked confident to challenge his opponent. He started strongly and took a 3-0 lead after the first few moves. The latter part of the bout witnessed an intense battle between the two wrestlers. Jung was able to take three points to level up the match. However, Gyanender successfully garnered another point to eventually win the match 4-3 and move into the next round of the World Wrestling Championships. 

In the next round, Gyanender started with a two-point lead, but was unable to maintain that in the latter part of the bout. Japan's Ayata Suzuki struck back to take three points with a wonderful move and eventually won the match 3-2. 

Ravi and Sonu crash out

Ravi lost to South Korea's Park Jewoo in the qualification round of the 97kg category via technical superiority. The Korean totally outplayed Ravi and won the match 8-0, which led him into the next round of the World Wrestling Championships.

Later, in the 130kg category, Sonu lost to Radoslav Plamenov Georgiev in the qualification round. He lost the bout to the Bulgarian via technical superiority. The Indian grappler was not able to produce a single point, thereby losing the match 0-9 to his opponent. 

India have won two medals at the event so far. Female wrestlers Anshu Malik and Sarita Mor won medals for their countries on Thursday. While Malik scripted history by winning India's first silver medal at the World Wrestling Championships, Mor emerged victorious with a bronze medal. 

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