Chirag Chikkara clinches gold as India shine with nine medals at U23 World Wrestling Championships

Tirana, Albania: Chirag Chikkara became only the third Indian to become Under-23 world champion as India capped a rich haul of nine medals, including a gold and silver each, at the age group tournament here Chikkara, competing in the men's freestyle 57kg category, eked out a narrow 4-3 in the closing seconds of the final win over Abdymalik Karachov of Kyrgyzstan.

He becomes the second Indian man, after Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat, to win the gold at the U23 Championships.

Sehrawat had achieved the feat in the same category in the 2022 edition of the meet while Reetika Hooda had become the first Indian woman to bag a gold at the tournament when she won in the 76kg category last year.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya had also won a silver in the U23 World Championships in 2018.

Chikkara reached the final after a series of dominant performances, defeating Gaukoto Ozawa 6-1 in the pre-quarterfinals, Iunus Iavbatirov 12-2 in the last eight stage and Allan Oralbek 8-0 in the semifinals.

India's medal haul in the men’s freestyle category also included two bronze medals, placing the nation fourth in the team standings with 82 points, trailing Iran (158), Japan (102), and Azerbaijan (100).

India also won two more bronze in men's freestyle taking the country's medal count in the category to four that secured the nation a fourth place in the team rankings.

Iran topped the team rankings with 158 points followed by Japan (102), Azerbaijan (100) and INida (82).

Vicky defeated former U20 World Championships silver medalist and European junior champion Ivan Prymachenko of Ukraine with a convincing 7-2 margin to win bronze in the men's 97kg freestyle event. It is the highest weight category at which India have medalled at this tournament.

Vicky had defeated Merab Suleimanishvili of Georgia via fall in round of 16, Radu Lefter of Moldova 5-0 in quartefinal before losing to Mahdi Hajiloueian Morafah of Iran in semifinals.

Having narrowly missed a final berth the other day, Sujeet Kalkal bounced back from being 0-4 down to beat Mustafo Akhmedov of Tajikistan 13-4 and win bronze in men's 70kg freestyle.

Sujeet had beaten Georgi Antoanov Zhizgov 10-0 in round of 32, Tugsjargal Erdenebat 7-4 in pre-quarters, Narek Pohosian 6-1 before losing to eventual gold medallist Magomed Basihr Khaniev 4-8 in the final seconds the semifinal.

Abhishek Dhaka had earlier won a bronze as India finished with four medals (one gold and three bronze), bettering their previous year's performance where they had bagged two bronze in the freestyle category.

The Indian women’s wrestling team also excelled earlier, bringing home one silver and three bronze medals: Anjli claimed silver in the 59kg category, while Neha Sharma (57kg), Shiksha (65kg), and Monika (68kg) each secured bronze.

Additionally, Vishvajit More earned a bronze in the men’s 55kg Greco-Roman category, rounding off India’s impressive tally at the championships.