Amit Kumar wins silver at worlds

Asian Champion Amit Kumar won a silver medal at the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest yesterday.u00a0Amit lost to Iran's Hassan Rahimi in the 55 Kg freestyle final to clinch second spot at the World Championships.

Getting a grip: India's Amit Kumar (in red) battles it out with Iran's Hassan Farman Rahimi in the gold medal match of the Freestyle 55 kg category at the FILA World Wrestling Championships in Budapest yesterday. Pic/AFP

India's last gold in the World Championships came through two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, who won in the 66kg freestyle category in
2010. u00a0Sushil did travel to Budapest, but was unable to take to the mat here due to fitness issues.

High expectations
Amit was expected to do well in the competition and justified the expectations with some comfortable wins heading into the final. u00a0

Amit Kumar

After he got a bye in the first round, in the second, he beat Japan's Yasuhiro Inaba 10-2. In the next round, he defeated France's Zoheir Elo Arraque 8-0 to storm into the quarter-finals. In the quarters, he got the better of USA's Agelo Alesmo Escobedo 6-0 points.

Then, in the semi-finals he defeated Turkish wrestler Sezar Akgul 8-0 points to storm into the gold medal round. u00a0The final though turned out to be a very close contest with the Iranian grappler eventually prevailing 2-1.

Among other Indians, Arun Kumar (66kg) and Satyawart Kadian (96kg) were unable to reach the medal rounds of the tournament. While Sushil's replacement in the 66kg category, Arun Kumar made a first round exit, world junior bronze medallist Satyawart Kadian (96kg) also failed to cross the second round.