World Wrestling Championships 2022: Ravi Dahiya, Bajrang Punia among prime medal contenders; Naveen grapples for bronze-Sports News , Firstpost

Ravi Kumar Dahiya in a file photo. UWW

A day after Indian women wrestlers folded their World Wrestling Championships 2022 campaign with a solitary bronze medal through Vinesh Phogat, star men wrestlers Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57kg) and Bajrang Punia (65kg) will be vying to take the Indian medal tally further up in Belgrade on Friday.

World No. 2 Ravi Dahiya is the favourite, with Olympic rival missing, amid all the Indian participants. Ravi has probably the brightest shot at winning a gold medal as the Olympics silver medallist is seeded second being ranked World No. 2. Some rebate is also on the offer as reigning Olympic champion Zaur Uguev (Russia) will not be chasing his third World title.

Dahiya will surely take confidence from his current form following a flawless run in 2022. Since his Tokyo exploit last year, the 24-year-old grappler has won all three international competitions he partook in in 2022. This included Asian Championships (April) and last month’s Commonwealth Games gold medals.

Following his CWG conquest, Dahiya has been training in the Russian city Vladikavkaz and reached Belgrade on Tuesday (13 September) for the Worlds.

There might be some comfort in the offer as he faces World No. 31 Razwan Kovacs (Romania) in the qualification round on Friday afternoon. If cleared, things will only get tricky for Dahiya second round onwards with either Diamantino Fafe (World No.29) or Gulomjon Abdullaev (No. 30) as his opponent. Facing Abdullaev, in particular, could be unpredictable as the 23-year-old Uzbek has defeated his Indian opponent in the past and showed credibility at the last Olympics by almost shocking Uguev.

Having said that, Ravi defeated Abdullaev by a narrow one-point margin during UWW Ranking Series (Yasar Dogu 2022) in Istanbul in February. His toughest challenges are expected to be defending champion Thomas Gillman (USA) in the expected final and Germany’s Lehr Horst (2021 Worlds bronze medallist) in a potential semifinal bout.

Bajrang chases record fourth medal in 65kg category

Bajrang Punia will be looking to expand his World Championship medal cabinet, or better change the colour of his medal to gold as the World No. 2 has won a silver and two bronze in the past.

The job is easier said than done as the 65kg category gives away no freebies, especially when it’s unclear if Bajrang’s recurring knee injury is still bothering him.

“There are no easy bouts in World Championships,” WFI coach Jitender Yadav told Firstpost from Belgrade. “And men’s 65kg is among the toughest with some of the best wrestlers from around the world compete. But we have every reason to feel confident as both Ravi and Bajrang are in good shape.”

Bajrang, who has been given a bye to the second round, will face either Cuba’s Alejandro Tobier or China’s Yuan Shaohua. Facing Tobier could be tricky as the 33-year-old Cuban has years of experience behind him.

The much sought-after clash in the category,  however, is expected to be Bajrang up against three-time world champion Haji Aliyev in the final. However, it could turn out to be a tedious task reaching the final itself as USA’s Yianni Diakomihalis is on a collision course with Bajrang in the quarters. Ahead of the potential final with Aliyev, Bajrang may also come across 2021 European Championship silver medallist Krzysztof Bienkowski in the semis.

Also adds to Bajrang’s headache is Iran’s Rahman Amouzad, who defeated Bajrang at the Asian Championships as well.

Naveen Malik (70kg) is also in medal contention. He will fight for a bronze medal after he reached the repechage as a result of his round of 16 opponent, Taishi Narikuni, reaching the final.

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