New Delhi: Indian grapplers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya on Saturday assured themselves of atleast a silver medal at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships that is being played at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Hall in New Delhi.
Satyawart Kadiyan (97kg) and Gourav Baliyan (79kg) also assured themselves of silver medals. Meanwhile, Naveen (70kg) lost in the semi-final and will face Uzbekistan's Meirzhan Ashirov in the bronze medal match.
Asian Wrestling Championships Bajrang was dominant in the 65kg category, beating the three opponents he faced by technical superiority. The Asian Games gold medallist started the day with a 11-0 win over Tajikstan's Dzamshed Sharifov. He then beat Uzbekistan's Abbos Rakhmonov 12-2 in the quarter final.
Bajrang then faced Iranian junior world champion Amirhossein Magshoudi. He won the bout 10-0 to go through to the final. He now faces Japan's Takuto Otoguro in a rematch of the 2018 World Championships final.
Ravi beat Japanese Yuki Takahashi 14-5 in his first match of the 57kg category followed by a 6-3 win over Tugs Batjargal of Mongolia in the quarter-final. He then beat Kazakhstan's world championship bronze medallist Nurislam Sanayev 7-2 to set up a title bout against Tajikstan's Hikmatullo Vohidov.
Satyawart beat both his opponents by technical superiority. He beat Jordan's Zaid Shishani 10-0 before beating Tajikistan's Rustam Iskandari by the same scoreline. He faces Mojtaba Mohammadshafie Goleij of Iran in the final.
Baliyan beat Mongolia's Batzul Damjin 3-1 in his first match of the day. He followed that up with a 6-5 win over Japan's Shinkichi Okui to seal his place in the final where he faces Kyrgyzstan's Arsalan Budazhapov.
