Indian teenage Greco-Roman wrestler Rupin wins silver on his Asian Wrestling Championships debut 

India’s teenage Greco-Roman wrestler Rupin went down fighting to Iran’s Pouya Dadmarz in the 55kg gold medal match at the senior Asian Wrestling Championships. The tournament started on Sunday in Astana, Kazakhstan.

On his debut at the senior continental championships, Rupin lost 1-3 to settle for silver.

Rupin’s personal coach Surinder Kadian said Kazakhstan turned out to be a good platform to evaluate the performance ahead of the busy 2023 season. This season would include the World Wrestling Championships, a qualifying event for the Paris Olympics.

“Rupin’s overall performance in Astana at the Asian Wrestling Championships has been good. On his way to the gold medal match, he defeated more experienced wrestlers than him,” Kadian told Sportskeeda over the phone from his home in outer Delhi.

However, there is going to be a big change for Rupin in the upcoming months. For the 2022 Asian Games and the World Wrestling Championships in September, Rupin will shift to 60kg in Greco-Roman, which is an Olympic category.

On Sunday in Astana, unfazed by his 24-year-old rival from Iran who has rich experience in Greco-Roman, India’s Rupin gave a good account of himself. But as the match progressed, Dadmarz tightened his grip to win the gold medal with a score of 3-1.

After the gold medal bout, Rupin called his coach, saying that with a bit of luck, he could have done better.

“It was a close contest as Rupin lost his grip in the last 40 seconds,” Kadian added.

In-form Rupin started his campaign in the Asian Wrestling Championships on a positive note. He defeated Kazakhstan’s Amangali Bekbolatov 6-4 in the quarterfinals, while Rupin’s semifinal victim was Chinese Haifeng Zhang whom he defeated 3-1.

Other Indian participants at Asian Wrestling Championships

The Indian contingent won two more bronze medals on Sunday. Neeraj picked up India's first bronze in the 63kg by defeating Korea’s Jinseub Song 5-2. Iran’s Iman Hossein Khoon Mohammad won gold by defeating Shermukhammad Sharibjanov of Uzbekistan 9-0.

Sunil Kumar, India’s 2020 champion in 87kg Greco-Roman category, also settled for bronze on Sunday. Kumar outplayed Japan's Masato Sumi 4-1 to win India’s second bronze.

India’s Sajan failed to impress in the 77kg and lost in the repechage to China’s Rui Liu 1-4. In the heavyweight category - 130kg - Naveen lost the quarterfinal bout to Temurbek Nasimov of Uzbekistan 3-5.

The remaining Greco-Roman bouts will be conducted on Monday.