Bajrang settles for silver, Otoguro becomes youngest World Champ from Japan
Budapest (Hungary), Oct 22: Bajrang Punia's bid to become only the second Indian to win a gold medal at the World Championship fell flat as a tactically superior Takuto Otoguro of Japan stunned the Indian in the 65kg final, here on Monday.
Only the fourth Indian ever to make it to the World Championship gold medal match, 24-year-old Bajrang was rattled by the 19-year old Otoguro, who consistently attacked the left leg of Indian and emerged a comfortable 16-9 winner.
In the process, Otoguro became Japan's youngest World Champion at the age of 19.
Legendary Yuji Takada, who won gold at 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, had become youngest World Champion from Japan at the age of 20 in 1974.
A four-point throw gave Otoguro an early 5-0 lead, leaving Bajrang to play a catch-up game. With back-to-back takedowns, the Indian reduced the deficit to 4-5.
The Japanese got more points with a step out and led 7-6 at the break.
An early take down at the start of second period handed Otoguro a 9-6 lead. The Japanese kept attacking Bajrang's left leg, a strategy which the Indian struggled to counter.
The Commonwealth Games and Asian Games gold medallist Bajrang eventually had to settle for a silver, which is his second medal at the Worlds. He had won a bronze in 2013 edition.
Sushil Kumar, country's greatest ever wrestler, is the lone Indian to win a gold medal at the World's, achieving the feat in 2010 in Moscow in the 66kg category.
Apart from Sushil, Amit Dahiya (2013) and Bishambar Singh (1967) are the other Indians to make it to the World Championship final in men's freestyle.
Udey Chand (bronze, 1961), Ramesh Kumar (bronze, 2009), Narsingh Yadav (2015) are the other men's freestyle wrestlers to win a medal at the World Championship.
Among female grapplers, only Babita Phogat (bronze, 2012), Geeta Phogat (2012), Alka Tomar (bronze, 2006) are the medal winners at Worlds.
Meanwhile, in the men's free style 70kg category, Praveen Rana won his first bout against Jarvissadam Blesam Tarkong by technical superiority but suffered an identical defeat against Uzbekistan's Ikhtiyor Navruzov in the pre-quarter finals.
In the 97kg, Mausam Khatri was knocked out by Venezuela's Jose Daniel Diaz Robertti 2-12 in the Qualification round.
In the women's event, Sarita won her bouts in the 59kg against Korea's Bobae Kim (8-1) and Ukraine's Sofiia Bodnar (4-0) but lost the quarterfinal by technical superiority to Shoovdor Baatarjav Jav.
However, Seema could not win even one bout in 55kg, losing her pre-quarterfinal to Mongolia's Davaachimeg Erkhembayar by technical superiority.
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SWR announces special trains for passengers stranded by large-scale IndiGo cancellations
Bengaluru (PTI): The South Western Railway on Saturday announced a series of special trains, in coordination with Central, South Eastern and Southern Railways, to clear stranded passengers following large-scale IndiGo flight cancellations across the country.
The special services will operate between December 6 and 10 on high-demand routes, including Bengaluru–Chennai, Bengaluru–Pune, Yesvantpur–Hazrat Nizamuddin, Shalimar–Yelahanka and Ernakulam–Yelahanka, officials said.
According to an official statement, SWR will run Train No. 06255/06256 between Chennai Egmore and KSR Bengaluru, 06257/06258 between Bengaluru and MGR Chennai Central, 06259/06260 between Yesvantpur and Hazrat Nizamuddin, and 06263/06264 between Bengaluru and Pune.
ALSO READ: Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Central Railway will operate Train No. 01413/01414 between Pune and Bengaluru, while South Eastern Railway will run Train No. 08073/08074 between Shalimar and Yelahanka. Southern Railway will operate Train No. 06147/06148 between Ernakulam and Yelahanka, the statement said.
Railways has advised passengers to check updated timings on its official channels and arrive early at stations.
For at least five days in a row, IndiGo flight operations have been significantly disrupted, with a large number of cancellations and delays causing hardships to thousands of passengers. In many cases, baggage has been misplaced.
