Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya on Saturday assured themselves of silver medals at the Asian Wrestling Championships underway at the KD Jadhav Wrestling Hall in the national capital.
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 an 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.
Apart from Bajrang and Ravi, Satyawart Kadiyan (97kg) and Gourav Baliyan (79kg) also assured themselves of silvers. Naveen (70kg) lost in the semi-final and will face Uzbekistan’s Meirzhan Ashirov in the bronze medal match.