Wrestling World Championships: Ravinder gets lifeline as Daton Fix storms into final

India’s hopes for a medal at the wrestling world championships got a new life after USA’s Daton Duain Fix stormed into the final of men’s 61kg freestyle competition on Saturday. The American, who had flattened India’s Ravinder Dahiya 10-0 in the quarterfinals, blanked Olympian Arsen Harutyunyan of Armenia.

With Daton Fix in the final, Ravinder was pulled into the repechage where he will face the winner of the match between Bulgaria’s Georgi Valentinov Vangelov and France’s Arman Norik Eloyan.

Ravinder, a silver medallist at the 2019 U23 Wrestling World Championship, had an easy start to his senior Worlds debut. The 25-year-old Haryana grappler defeated Kim Sunggwon of Korea 13-2 in the qualification round.

He then faced defending champion Beka Lomtadze of Georgia in the pre-quarterfinals of the wrestling world championships. Ravinder stunned the Georgian wrestler and grabbed a 6-2 win.

Dayton Fix, on the other hand, entered the final 41-0. The American began with a 11-0 win over Tokyo Olympian Georgi Vangelov in qualification and then thumped Norik Eloyan 10-0 in the round of eight.

The former junior world champion thrashed Harutyunyan 10-0 to win on technical superiority. He will now face competition favorite Abasgadzi Magomedov of Russia.

Indians disappoint on Day 1 of Wrestling World Championships

Barring Ravinder, none of the other Indian wrestlers managed to get off to a good start. Sandeep Singh Mann lost narrowly to Kim Gwanuk of Korea in the 86 kg bracket. Anirudh Kumar, on the other hand, was beaten by Youssif Mohamed Badea Hemida of Egypt 9-3 in the 125kg clash.

In 74kg weight category, Russian Timur Bizhoev ousted Yash 7-0 in their qualification rounds.

The remaining Indians, Pankaj (57kg) will meet Levan Metreveli Vartanov of Spain, Rohit (65kg) takes on Divoshan Charles Fernando of Sri Lanka, Sushil (70kg) clashes with Zurabi Iakobishvili of Georgia, and in 79kg category Baliyan Gourav faces Bat Erdene Byambasuren of Mongolia.

Seasoned wrestler Satywart Kadian (97kg) will square off with Minwon Seo of Korea.kj Meanwhile, Pruthviraj Babasaheb Patil got a bye and will meet Osman Nurmagomedov of Azerbaijan in the 92kg category at the wrestling world championships.