Astana, Oct 30 (PTI) India endured a disappointing day at the World Wrestling Championships here on Friday, with none of

Astana, Oct 30 (PTI) India endured a disappointing day at the World Wrestling Championships here on Friday, with none of

Astana, Oct 30 (PTI) India endured a disappointing day at the World Wrestling Championships here on Friday, with none of

Astana, Oct 30 (PTI) India endured a disappointing day at the World Wrestling Championships here on Friday, with none of its wrestlers managing to reach the quarterfinal stage, although rookie Nikhil produced a remarkable fightback before suffering a narrow defeat against a formidable Iranian opponent.

     Competing in the men's 61kg category, Nikhil gave World silver medallist Ahmad Masoud Mohammadnezhadjav a massive scare, recovering from an 0-8 deficit to take a 9-8 lead with nine consecutive points before eventually going down 9-10 in a thrilling pre-quarterfinal bout.

     Earlier, Nikhil had begun his campaign impressively, defeating Bulgaria's Mikyay Naim by technical superiority (12-2) in the qualification round.

     Pushpender Dalal also made a promising start in the men's 86kg category, winning two successive bouts before his campaign ended in the pre-quarterfinals.

     He first edged past Egypt's Mohamed 10-8 in the opening round before registering a high-scoring 17-9 victory over Morocco's Mohamed Amine in the round of 16.

     However, Pushpender could not sustain the momentum, losing 2-7 to Azerbaijan's Arsenii Dzhioev in the pre-quarterfinals.

     In the men's 125kg category, Jaspooran Singh began with an 8-4 victory over Romania's Omar Sarem in the qualification round but was subsequently outclassed by two-time Olympic medallist Amir Hossein Zare of Iran, losing by technical superiority (0-11) in the pre-quarterfinals.

     Vishal Kaliramana's campaign in the men's 70kg category ended in the qualification round after he suffered a 2-7 defeat against Turkiye's Ferhat Kilic.

     Vicky Hooda was also eliminated after losing his men's 97kg repechage bout by technical superiority (0-10) to Iranian great Hassan Yazdani.

     India will, however, have another opportunity to strike gold later in the day when Manisha Bhanwala competes in the women's 59kg gold medal bout.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)