Asian Games: Sunil Kumar loses in Greco-Roman men's 87 kg semis to complete disappointing day for Indian wrestling

Oct 04, 2023

Hangzhou [China], October 4 : Indian wrestler Sunil Kumar registered a loss in the semifinals of the Greco-Roman 87 kg men's wrestling competition at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday, concluding a disappointing day for the Indian wrestling contingent. 
In the semis, he lost to Iran's Naser Alizadeh by 5-1 via Victory by Points (VPO1). 
Earlier, Sunil made it to the semifinals of the Greco-Roman 87 kg men's wrestling competition at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday. 
First, in the pre-quarters match, he clinched a 4-3 win over China's Peng Fei. Then later on, he secured a massive 9-1 win over Tajikistan's Sukhrob Abdulkhaev in the quarterfinal, moving to the semifinals. 
On the other hand, in his pre-quarters match, Neeraj registered a disappointing 3-5 loss to Uzbekistan's Makhmud Bakhshilloev in the Greco-Roman men's 67 kg category. In the pre-quarters of Greco-Roman men's 60 kg category, Gyanender went down to Iran's Meysam Dalkhani by 6-1. 
Another Indian wrestler, Vikas also registered a 1-9 defeat to China's Rui Liu in the quarterfinals of the men's Greco-Roman 77 kg category. 
Tokyo Olympics 2020 bronze medalist Bajrang Punia and reigning U20 World Champion are heading the country's freestyle wrestling contingent at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, with matches set to take place from October 4 to October 7. India will compete in all 18 medal events - six Greco-Roman, six men's freestyle and six women's freestyle.
Indian wrestling squad at Asian Games 2023
-Women’s freestyle: Pooja Gehlot (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Mansi Ahlawat
(57kg), Sonam Malik (62kg), Radhika (68kg), Kiran (76kg)
-Greco-Roman: Gyanender (60kg), Neeraj (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Narinder Cheema (97kg), Naveen (130kg)
-Men’s freestyle: Aman Sehrawat (57kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Yash (74kg) Deepak Punia (86kg), Vicky (97kg), Sumit (125kg).