Greco-Roman wrestlers struggles continue at Worlds

Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan) : Ravi won India's first bout at the World Championships before suffering a defeat by fall as the country's Greco-Roman wrestlers' disappointing show continued here on Sunday.

The Olympic qualification was at stake in three categories but all three Indians cut a sorry figure as Manish (67kg) , Sunil Kumar (87kg) and Ravi (97kg) exited without a fight.

The four wrestlers in action on the opening day had not won a single bout and three of them did not even score a point but Ravi managed to win a bout against Chinese Taipei's Cheng Hao Chen.

Ravi opened up a 2-0 lead with take-down move and remained defensive until the end of the period. In the second period, the Taipei lost a point due to passivity and Ravi took advantage by employing a gut-wrench from the ground position.

There was not much action in the bout as the Indian won 5-0. In the next bout against Czech Republic's Artur Omarov, Ravi lost two points for fleeing the mat and then conceded a passivity point.

Omarov finished the bout in a jiffy as he made the score 7-0 with two gut wrench moves and then pinned his opponent, 27 seconds before the end of the first period. Omarov later lost his quarterfinal 1-2 to Serbia's Mihail Kajaia, closing doors on Ravi.