U23 World Championship: Chirag Chikkara wins gold, India bring home nine medals

Chirag Chikkara became only the third Indian to become Under23 world champion as India capped a rich haul of nine medals including a gold and silver each at the age group tournament here Chikkara competing in the mens freestyle 57kg category eked out a narrow 43 in the closing seconds of the final win over Abdymalik Karachov of KyrgyzstanHe becomes the second Indian man after Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat to win the gold at the U23 World ChampionshipsSehrawat had achieved the feat in the same category in the 2022 edition of the meet while Reetika Hooda had become the first Indian woman to bag a gold at the tournament when she won in the 76kg category last yearRavi Kumar Dahiya had also won a silver in the U23 World Championships in 2018Chikkara reached the final after a series of dominant performances defeating Gaukoto Ozawa 61 in the prequarterfinals Lunus Lavbatirov 122 in the last eight stage and Allan Oralbek 80 in the semifinalsIndias medal haul in the menrsquos freestyle category also included two bronze medals placing the nation fourth in the team standings with 82 points trailing Iran 158 Japan 102 and Azerbaijan 100India also won two more bronze in mens freestyle taking the countrys medal count in the category to four that secured the nation a fourth place in the team rankingsAlso Read Wrestlers seek sports ministerrsquos helpIran topped the team rankings with 158 points followed by Japan 102 Azerbaijan 100 and INida 82Vicky defeated former U20 World Championships silver medalist and European junior champion Ivan Prymachenko of Ukraine with a convincing 72 margin to win bronze in the mens 97kg freestyle event It is the highest weight category at which India have medalled at this tournamentVicky had defeated Merab Suleimanishvili of Georgia via fall in round of 16 Radu Lefter of Moldova 50 in quartefinal before losing to Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah of Iran in semifinalsHaving narrowly missed a final berth the other day Sujeet Kalkal bounced back from being 04 down to beat Mustafo Akhmedov of Tajikistan 134 and win bronze in mens 70kg freestyleSujeet had beaten Georgi Antoanov Zhizgov 100 in round of 32 Tugsjargal Erdenebat 74 in prequarters Narek Pohosian 61 before losing to eventual gold medallist Magomed Basihr Khaniev 48 in the final seconds the semifinalAlso Read U17 World Wrestling Championships Women wrestlers shine as India secures four gold medalsAbhishek Dhaka had earlier won a bronze as India finished with four medals one gold and three bronze bettering their previous years performance where they had bagged two bronze in the freestyle categoryThe Indian womenrsquos wrestling team also excelled earlier bringing home one silver and three bronze medals Anjli claimed silver in the 59kg category while Neha Sharma 57kg Shiksha 65kg and Monika 68kg each secured bronzeAdditionally Vishvajit More earned a bronze in the menrsquos 55kg GrecoRoman category rounding off Indiarsquos impressive tally at the championshipsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever