Bronze rush for India: Five medals bagged at U23 Worlds

IMAGE: Shiksha (65kg) beat Japan's Rin Teramoto on points for a third-place finish. Photograph: SAI Media

India's 59kg woman grappler Anjli clinched a silver medal, while free-style exponent Chirag assured the country of at least a second-place finish when he reached the 55kg final in the in the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania.

Ramchandra More, in 55kg greco-roman, and Neha Sharma (57kg), Shiksha (65kg) and Monika (68kg) too bagged bronze as India took their tally to five medals in the event.

Anjli, after securing a victory by fall against Italy's Aurora Russo in the semifinal, lost on points to Ukraine's Solomiia Vynnyk in the title showdown.

Chirag will take on Kyrgyzstan's Abdymalik Karachov in the gold-medal bout.

The 18-year-old Chirag defeated Japan's Ozawa Gakuto on points (6-1) in the pre-quarterfinal before overcoming Lubus Lavbatirov in the quarterfinals and Kazakhstan's Allan Oralbek in the last-four stage.

Abhishek Dhaka, in the 61kg category, will fight for the bronze medal against Mykyta Abramov of Ukraine after the Indian lost his semi-final bout to Ruslan Asif Abdullayev of Azerbaijan 11-1.

Sujeet too entered the bronze-medal round in the 70kg category with his opponent yet to be confirmed through the repechage route.

Mohit Kumar (65kg) lost his quarterfinal bout to Iran's Abbas Mohammadreza 14-2, while Sukhpal Jinjala (74kg) lost 0-10 to Ismet Ciftci of Turkey in the last-eight round.

In 79kg, Sahil Dalal lost his pre-quarterfinal bout to Arsen Balaian 0-10, while in the 86kg category Deepak was defeated by lost Joshua Morodion in the repechage round 2-1.

Vicky (97kg) will take on Mahdi Moharamali of Iran to secure a place in the final, while Anirudh Kumar lost his 125kg bout to Abdulla Kurbanov 2-12 in at the repechage stage.

In greco-roman, Ramchandra More defeated Adam Ulbashev on points (14-10) to secure a bronze, while Suraj lost his 60kg bronze-medal bout to Georgia's Pridon Abuladze 1-9.

In the women's section, Neha defeated China's Zhang Mingyue 5-0 on points to clinch the 57kg bronze, while Shiksha (65kg) beat Japan's Rin Teramoto on points for another third-place finish.

Monika (68kg) defeated China's Xinze Du 5-3 for another bronze, while Komal lost her 50kg quarterfinal bout to Japan's Umi Ito, who earned a victory by fall.

Hansika Lamba lost lost her 53kg qualification round bout to Mongolia's Otgontuya Chinbold 2-12, while Bhavika Patil was beaten by USA's Amani Jones in the 55kg bronze-medal match.