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Published 17:26 IST, September 21st 2019

Rahul Aware loses in semi-finals; Will fight for bronze on Sep 22

Commonwealth Games gold medalist Rahul Aware lost in the semi-finals by 6-10 against Georgia’s Beko Lomtadze. He will be fighting for bronze on Sunday, Sep 22.

Reported by: Rishabh Mishra
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Commonwealth Games gold medalist Rahul Aware lost in the semi-finals by 6-10 against Georgia’s Beko Lomtadze in 61kg category. The opponent started playing aggressive at the start of the game and lead with 4-0. Although, Rahul Aware came back with a powerful fight in the second round, he could only manage to close the gap from 2-8 to 6-8. However, Rahul thrashed the former Asian Champion 10-7 in the 61 kg category before this game. Now, Rahul will be fighting for bronze on Sunday.  

Ravi Kumar’s journey in World Wrestling Championship 

After kickstarting his challenge with a one-sided 11-0 win over Kim Sunggwon of Korea, he took it up further by prevailing over the European champion Arsen Harutyunyan 17-6. He did not stop there and continued his impeccable show against former world champion Yuki Takahashi whom he beat 6-1. This win also fetched him a prized berth at the Olympics next year. Ultimately, Ravi’s stunning display was halted by Russian world champion Zaur Uguev. On Friday, 22-year-old debutant Ravi Kumar finally won a bronze medal in the World Wrestling Championships. The 2015 Junior World Championships silver medallist Ravi showed terrific maturity in downing Iran’s Asian champion Reza Ahmadali Atrinagharchi 6-3 for a dream first outing at the Worlds.   

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Read: Bajrang, Ravi seek bronze after booking Tokyo 2020 Olympics berths

Bajrang Punia makes it to Tokyo 2020 

Bajrang Punia also won a bronze medal on Friday in the championship, defeating Tulga Tumur Ochir of Mongolia 8-7 in the 65 kg weight category. A day after he lost a very close semi-final, Punia made a slow start to his bronze medal bout and even trailed 2-6 at the end of the first period. A burst of aggression in the second period allowed him to make a stunning comeback to take the coveted medal. Punia had secured a spot for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Thursday after an impressive 8-1 win over North Korea's Jong Son in the tournament. Both Bajrang and Ravi had confirmed their Tokyo 2020 Olympic tickets a day earlier. 

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Read: Vinesh Phogat: 'Changed tactics suggested by coaches for WWC'

Vinesh qualifies for Tokyo 2020 

On Wednesday, Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian wrestler to qualify for the Olympics and she would be competing in the 53 kg category. Speaking about changing her strategy in the Olympic qualifying game on her own, Vinesh said, "I thought let's lure her (Sarah Ann Hildebrandt) into leg attacks more and stay solid in defense to completely wear her out. I let her come in but held her off. It worked for me. I knew how much strength she had compared to mine." The American number one got to hold off Vinesh's right leg in the second bout five times but could not convert those moves into points. "Even if she had scored a few points, she would have got tired because she would have used all her power," Vinesh added. Phogat had bagged gold medals in the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games. In the 2018 Asian Games, she had clinched a gold medal in the 50 kg category and now she is qualified for Tokyo Olympics 2020. 

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Read: Babita Phogat on sister Vinesh's win: 'It is a huge achievement'

Read: Vinesh Phogat wins Bronze in WWC, qualifies for Tokyo 2020 Olympics

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17:06 IST, September 21st 2019