World Wrestling Championships: India's Ravi Kumar Dahiya bows out after 2nd round defeat

India's star wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya went down in the second round of the World Wrestling Championships against Uzbekistan's Gulomjon Abdullaev. Dahiya was competing in the Senior Men's Freestyle 57kg category in Belgrade, Serbia. The World number two seed lost to Abdullaev 0-10 by technical superiority.

Dahiya will not be competing for a Bronze medal in repechage after Abdullaev lost to Albanian wrestler Zelimkhan Abakarov in the semi-final stage. Dahiya defeated Razvan Marian Kovacs of Romania in the first round 10-0 to book his spot in the second round. The 24-year-old was India's frontrunner for a medal in the World Championships, as the Olympic silver medalist was the top seed since Russian Olympic



champion Zaur Uguey did not participate in the Championships.

Dahiya enjoyed a very successful start to 2022 after clinching gold medals in both the Asian Championships in April and the Commonwealth Games in August. But he failed to replicate his form against the Uzbek and will return home empty-handed.

Meanwhile, Naveen Malik defeated Syrbaz Talgat in the 70kg repechage to keep his hopes of a World Championships medal alive. In the 74kg category, Sagar Jaglan won on technical superiority against Israel's Mitchell Louis Finesilver 15-4. Jaglan was initially trailing 1-4 but turned the game around by grabbing the legs of his opponent and rolling him over multiple times to clinch the victory.