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The World Wrestling Championships 2023 is going on from September 16 in Belgrade, Serbia. This highly competitive event has been very challenging for the Indian wrestlers so far. Not to forget, they are participating under the UWW (United World Wrestling) flag.
In the men's 70kg freestyle category, India's Abhimanyu lost to Arman Andreasyan of Armenia 1-12 in the bronze medal contest at the World Wrestling Championships. It is noteworthy that, in the opening round (FS 70kg) on Saturday, this talented Indian wrestler had stunned his higher-ranked Ukrainian opponent Ihor Nykyforuk.
In the next round, Abhimanyu defeated Nicolai Grahmez of Moldova 13-2. In the quarterfinals, he lost to Zain Allen Retherford of USA. Thereafter, Retherford entered the final.
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Meanwhile, Abhimanyu got an opportunity to make it to the bronze medal match by winning the repechage bout. The young freestyle wrestler from India won the repechage match 3-1 against Mustafo Akhmedov from Tajikistan. However, the Indian eventually lost the bronze-medal bout.
India's campaign at World Wrestling Championships 2023
At the ongoing World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade so far, the Indian wrestlers have not lived up to the expectations (in the men's Olympic and Non-Olympic weight categories). As a result, India's medal account has not opened yet.
On the first day, Sandeep Mann (86kg), Sumit (125kg) and Akash Dahiya (61kg) won their opening-round matches. Later, all three of them lost in the second round.
On the second day, in the Olympic weight category, Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Naveen (74kg) won in the opening round. But, they lost in the next round to be out of medal contention.
It is worth mentioning that the 2023 World Wrestling Championships is a crucial event as 90 Paris Olympic quotas are at stake across 18 weight categories.
In the absence of experienced wrestlers like Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, other young and promising grapplers made their place in the final squad. However, as of now, their performances have not been satisfactory.
