Rome, Ace India grapplers Bajrang Punia and Ravi Dahiya have won gold at the Rome Ranking Series. Bajrang beat American Jordan Oliver 4-3 in the final, while, Dahiya, fighting in 61 kg instead of his usual 57 kg category, also bagged the yellow metal after beating Kazakhstan’s Nurbolat Abdualiyev 6-0.
Dahiya beat Moldova’s Alexandru Chirtoaca in the first round and Kazakhstan’s Nurislam Sanayev in the second. The win against Abdulaliyev helped him keep a perfect 3-0 record and thus fetched him the gold medal late on Saturday.
Jitender (74 kg) and Deepak Punia (86 kg) were knocked out earlier in the day. Deepak, who is the reigning junior world champion and won silver at the senior World Championships last year, crashed out in the first round with a 1-11 loss to Puerto Rico’s than Adrian Ramos.
Jitender beat Ukraine’s Denys Pavlov 10-1 in the first round before losing 0-4 to Turkey’s Soner Demirtas in the quarters.
Bajrang and Dahiya join Vinesh Phogat, 18-year-old Anshu Malik and Greco-Roman wrestlers Sajan Bhanwal, Gurpreet Singh and Sunil Kumar as medallists from the country. In bouts that took place on Friday, Vinesh had won gold in the 53 kg women’s category while Anshu won silver in the 87 kg category.
Gurpreet Singh (82 kg) became the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win gold in a ranking series while Sunil (87 kg) won silver. Bhanwal (77 kg) won bronze.
