World Wrestling Championships: Abhimanyu Loses In Quarter-finals
All four Indian free-style grapplers competing on the opening day of the UWW World Championships lost their respective bouts on Saturday, in a disappointing start to the country's campaign at the global event, which is also a 2024 Paris Olympic qualification tournament. Only Abhimanyu, in 70kg, showed the determination to slug it out by reaching the quarterfinal before his run was ended by Zain Allen Retherford of the United States. The American, ranked No.2 in the world, secured a 9-2 'win by decision' to advance to the semifinals. Abhimanyu, the bronze-medal winner at the U23 World Championships in June and ranked 26th in the world, had earlier upset Ukrainian world No.7 Ihor Nykyforuk 19-9 by effecting a victory by fall (VFA) before defeating Moldova's Nicolai Grahmez 13-2 (technical superiority) to secure a place in the quarters.