Indian wrestler Vishvajit Ramchandra More made history by winning silver in the men’s 55kg Greco-Roman category at the U23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas on Thursday.He narrowly lost 12-13 to Georgia’s Koba Karumidze in the final seconds of the gold medal bout, becoming the first Indian to win silver in Greco-Roman wrestling at the U23 World Championships.More had previously won two bronze medals at the same competition, making him India’s only Greco-Roman wrestler to secure two medals at the U23 Worlds. He also became the first Indian wrestler to reach the final in this category on Tuesday.
More’s impressive run to the final
The Indian wrestler secured three hard-fought victories to reach the final. He began with a 10-8 win over Mexico’s Isaac Marin Mata before defeating Iran’s U20 world champion Armin Shamsipour 8-1 in the quarterfinals with a four-point throw.In the semifinal, More beat Russia’s Malik Gigiev 6-4 in another closely contested match. He then aimed to become India’s first Greco-Roman gold medallist at the U23 World Championships but fell just short against Karumidze.
Visa rejections hit India’s campaign
India’s overall campaign also faced a setback after nine wrestlers across the Greco-Roman and women’s categories were denied US visas. The wrestlers were reportedly rejected because they were under 20 and did not have full-time jobs.Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Sanjay Singh criticised the decision, claiming it affected India’s medal chances.“The US Embassy rejected the visas of nine Indian wrestlers on the grounds that they are unemployed. For the first time in history this has happened. Even the UWW president wrote to them regarding the matter. This visa refusal is entirely the US Embassy’s fault, and as a result, India lost out on gold medals. Among the nine wrestlers denied visas, at least two were strong gold medal prospects. India suffered a major medal loss due to the US Embassy’s fault,” WFI chief Sanjay Singh told news agency IANS on Wednesday.
