TIRANA (Albania): The Indian wrestling contingent finished the U23 World Wrestling Championships 2024 with a total of nine medals, including a gold, silver and seven bronze medals. The Championships were held from October 21-27 in Tirana, Albania.
Chirag secured the solitary gold medal for India in the men’s 57 kg competition, becoming only the third Indian to secure the top spot in the championships after Olympic medalist Aman Sehrawat (men’s 57kg) in 2022 and Reetika Hooda (women’s 76kg) last year, as per Olympics.com.
Reetika was however competing under the United World Wrestling (UWW) at last year’s championships as sanctioned were placed on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) at that time amid the wrestlers’ protests. Notably, Tokyo Olympics 2020 medalist Ravi Kumar Dahiya had clinched a silver medal in the men’s 57 kg division back in 2018.
Anji, a competitor in women’s 59 kg, secured the silver medal for India. Monika, who claimed the bronze medal in women’s 65 kg last year, continued her fine run in the tournament with her second successive bronze medal, this time in 68 kg.
Sujeet, a former U20 World Championships bronze medalist who represented the nation in Paris 2024 Olympic qualifiers this year, also got the men’s 70 kg freestyle bronze medal. Vicky secured the bronze medal in men’s 97 kg, becoming the first Indian to win a medal in the heavyweight category at the U23 World Championships.
Competitions were organised for 10 weight categories each in men’s and women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. India had one entry per category as a total of 664 grapplers, with 240 in men’s freestyle and greco-roman and 184 in women’s freestyle category were at Albania to compete.
The Indian wrestling team had won nine medals, including a gold, two silver and six bronze from last year’s U23 World Championships. (ANI)