Istanbul, Feb 28 (Representative) Tokyo Olympics Silver medallist wrestler Ravi Dahiya clinched a gold in 61kg freestyle category after beating Gulomjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan 11-10 at the Yasar Dogu ranking series here in Turkey. This was Dahiya’s first competition since his Tokyo Olympics silver medal finish in July last year. On his way to finals, Dahiya defeated compatriot Mangal Kadyan via points 7-0 in the qualification round on Sunday.
The Indian then registered back-to-back victories in the main draws. He defeated Italy’s Shamil Makhmudovitch Omarov (7-2) in the pre-quarters, defeated the USA’s Nicholas Daniel Megaludis (10-1) in the quarterfinals and went past Iran’s Mohammadbagher Esmaeil Yakhkeshi via fall in the semifinal. Besides Dahiya, Tokyo Olympics semi-finalist Deepak Punia bagged a bronze in freestyle 92kg weight class through repechage after losing his quarter-final match to Ahmad Yousef Bazrighaleh of Iran.
Punia got better of Mirlan Chynybekov (Kyrgyzstan) in the repechage before defeating Elkhan Assadov of Kazakhstan 7-1 in the bronze medal bout. In the freestyle 57kg division, Aman defeated Mongolia’s Zanabazar Zandanbud 10-5 to win the bronze medal after losing to Georgia’s Beka Bujiashvili in the semifinal.