Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan): Young wrestler Udit made it to the title race for the first time at the Senior Asian Championships by reaching the men's freestyle 57kg final here on Thursday, while three other Indians reached the bronze medal play-offs.
Reigning U20 Asian champion Udit ensured that the country's good record continues in a category that has had some proven performers over the years like Ravi Dahiya and Ama Sehrawat.
India has won four consecutive Asian titles in the 57kg category through Olympic silver medalists Ravi (2020, 2021, 2022) and Aman (2023).
This will be Udit's second medal at the senior level, having won a silver medal at the UWW Ranking Series event in Tunisia in 2022.
It was a tough opening encounter for Udit, who was up against Ibrahim Mahdi Khari, but the Indian overcame his Iranian opponent with a close 10-8 win.
He then won 6–4 against local favorite Almaz Smanbekov and in the semi-finals he defeated Kum Hyeok Kim of Korea 4–3.
Udit put Kim up 2-1 at the end of the first period with a takedown move and the score became 3- when the Korean was put on the activity clock.
However, Korea made an 'exposure' move to make it 3-3. Udit pulled off an upset and took the lead over BAC and overcame a tough challenge from the Korean player to enter the finals, where he would face Kento Yumiya of Japan.
Rohit Kumar (65kg), who had defeated Bajrang Punia in the trials, Abhimanyo (70kg) and Vicky (97kg) will fight for the bronze medals after losing their respective semi-final bouts.
Parvinder Singh was the only Indian wrestler who could not enter the medal race on Thursday as he bowed out after losing 0-3 to Japan's Ryunosuke Kamiya in the qualification in the 79kg competition.
Reigning U20 Asian champion Udit ensured that the country's good record continues in a category that has had some proven performers over the years like Ravi Dahiya and Ama Sehrawat.
India has won four consecutive Asian titles in the 57kg category through Olympic silver medalists Ravi (2020, 2021, 2022) and Aman (2023).
This will be Udit's second medal at the senior level, having won a silver medal at the UWW Ranking Series event in Tunisia in 2022.
It was a tough opening encounter for Udit, who was up against Ibrahim Mahdi Khari, but the Indian overcame his Iranian opponent with a close 10-8 win.
He then won 6–4 against local favorite Almaz Smanbekov and in the semi-finals he defeated Kum Hyeok Kim of Korea 4–3.
Udit put Kim up 2-1 at the end of the first period with a takedown move and the score became 3- when the Korean was put on the activity clock.
However, Korea made an 'exposure' move to make it 3-3. Udit pulled off an upset and took the lead over BAC and overcame a tough challenge from the Korean player to enter the finals, where he would face Kento Yumiya of Japan.
Rohit Kumar (65kg), who had defeated Bajrang Punia in the trials, Abhimanyo (70kg) and Vicky (97kg) will fight for the bronze medals after losing their respective semi-final bouts.
Parvinder Singh was the only Indian wrestler who could not enter the medal race on Thursday as he bowed out after losing 0-3 to Japan's Ryunosuke Kamiya in the qualification in the 79kg competition.
