Rupin settled for his first medal on the international senior circuit after his 3-1 loss in the championship match to Iran's Pouya
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The Indian Greco-Roman challenge at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan, was highlighted by Rupin’s silver medal on Sunday in the 55kg division. At the continental meet, Rupin had a strong performance. In the qualifying round, he outclassed Kyrgyz Sardarbek Konushbaev by a technical margin of 16-7. In the semifinals and quarterfinals, the Indian wrestler triumphed over Kazakhstan’s Amangali Bekbolatov by 6-4 and China’s Haifeng Zhang by 3-1.
The 19-year-old Rupin settled for his first medal on the international senior circuit after his 3-1 loss in the championship match to Iran’s Pouya Dadmarz, the current U-23 world champion. India won three medals from the five Greco-Roman events held on that day. Rupin has done well overall at the Asian Wrestling Championships in Astana. He outlasted wrestlers with more experience on the way to the gold medal match. However, Rupin will experience a significant change in the coming months. Rupin will switch to the 60kg Greco-Roman weight class for the 2022 Asian Games and the World Wrestling Championships to be held in September.
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Neeraj Chhikara, competing in the 63 kg weight class, took home the bronze after defeating Jinseub Song of Korea 5-2 in the medal match. Neeraj Chhikara was defeated by Iran’s Iman Hossein Khoon Mohammadi by a score of 9-0 technical superiority after winning to Kyrgyzstan’s Dastan Kadyrov in the qualification round. After Iman Hossein Khoon Mohammadi, who ultimately won the gold medal, advanced to the final, Neeraj was allowed to compete for the bronze medal.
Sunil Kumar, the 2020 Asian champion, defeated Masato Sumi of Japan in the medal match for the 87kg category to win a bronze medal as well. Earlier, Sunil Kumar outperformed Tajik Saidislomiddin Aslamov 9-1 in terms of technical ability. The Iranian wrestler Naser Alizadeh defeated the Indian competitor 7-2 in the semifinals, losing twice as the Asian champion. Sajan Bhanwala struggled in the 77 kg. He fell to Iran’s Amin Yavar Kaviyaninejad 3-1 in the qualification round, and he also failed to take advantage of a repechage opportunity, losing 4-1 to China’s Rui Liu.
In the opening round, Temurbek Nasimov of Uzbekistan defeated Naveen Sevlia, who was competing in the 130 kg weight class, 5-3. The final five Greco-Roman weight classes will take place on Monday. The men’s and women’s freestyle competitions will take place later in the week. Five medals, all bronze, were won by Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers at the 2017 Asian Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
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