World Wrestling Championship: Rahul Aware wins bronze, Deepak's silver in India's best ever show
Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), Sep 22: Rahul Aware won the biggest medal of his career by bagging a bronze while an injured Deepak Punia settled for a silver after pulling out of the final as India celebrated its best-ever performance at the World Wrestling Championship here on Sunday.
Aware outclassed Tyler Lee Graff, the 2017 Pan- America champion, 11-4 in the 61kg bronze play-off to take India's tally to five medals.
Deepak, the reigning junior world champion did not take mat against Iranian great Hasan Yazdani due to an ankle injury, sustained during the semi-final.
The other medal winners in this edition are Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya and Vinesh Phogat.
India's previous best show was at the 2013 edition, when the country had won three medals through Amit Dahiya (silver), Bajrang Punia (bronze) and Sandeep Tulsi Yadav (bronze in Greco-Roman)
Winning gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was 27-year-old Aware's best performance before.
"I could have won a gold. It was within my reach. I could have won that semi-final (against Beka Lomtadze). I botched it up in the first period," Aware told PTI.
Aware had shown early promise when he won bronze medals at the Asian Championships in 2009 and 2011 but suddenly vanished from the scene after that.
"The injuries pegged me back. I was ready in 2014 but then there were no trials for the CWG or the Asian Games. So I did not get a chance to prove my worth, he argued.
"I feared for losing this chance. After a long time, something good was waiting for me and I was really scared to lose it. I am glad I pulled it off," Aware heaved a sigh of relief.
Westling of late has been a sport dominated by grapplers from Haryana and Aware is first from Maharashtra to win a senior World medal.
"But Maratha sports history will remember me for winning this medal. I am first from that region to do this," he said adding that he would dedicate his medal to his first coach, late Harichander Brajdar.
For the record, the greatest ever Maharashtrian wrestler undoubtedly is late KD Jadhav, who won independent India's first individual medal, a bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Aware, who now trains under Kaka Pawar in Pune, said he was under a lot of self-imposed pressure going into the bout. The American surprised Aware with a double leg attack, the moment the bout started and earned two points with a takedown.
However, he became alert and twice wriggled out of Graff's right leg attacks. He also scored consecutive takedown points to lead 4-2 at the break.
In the second period too, Graff got hold of Aware's right leg but the Indian got himself out of trouble in an impressive manner.
He then pulled the bout away from the American with a flurry of moves the takedowns and expose taking a commanding 10-2 lead. It consolidated further when the American lost a challenge. Eventually he won 11-4.
The morning of the final day of the championships brought with it the news that Deepak will not be able to compete in Sunday's final.
"The left foot is not taking the load. It's difficult to fight in this condition and could have aggravated the injury. I know it was a big chance to fight against Yazdani but I can't help it," Deepak told PTI.
Deepak had come out of the mat limping and a swollen right eye after his semifinal against Switzerland's Stefan Reichmuth.
It was a good draw for Deepak and he exploited it to get the biggest medal of his career.
In a dream run, Deepak reached the final with wins over Reichmuth, Colombia's Carlos Arturo Mendez and Kazakhstan's Adilet Davlumbayev. He became only the fifth Indian ever to reach the World Championship final after Bishamber Singh (1967) Sushil Kumar (2010), Amit Dahiya (2013) and Bajrang Punia (2018). Only last year he had won the junior world championship.
Sushil Kumar remains India's only World Champion. He had won a gold in 2010 in Moscow.
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'Don't trust anybody before marriage': SC advises caution in pre-marital physical relationship
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday said a boy and a girl before marriage are "total strangers" and they should be cautious while indulging in pre-marital physical relationships.
A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan, which was hearing the bail plea of a man accused of rape on a false promise of marriage, questioned the woman why she travelled all the way to Dubai where they indulged in physical relationship.
"It's consensual. We may be old-fashioned but a boy and girl before marriage are total strangers. They should be circumspect in indulging in physical relationships before marriage," the bench observed.
"Whatever may be the thick and thin of their relationship, we fail to understand how they can be indulging in physical relationship before marriage. Maybe we are old- fashioned but you must be very careful, nobody should believe anybody before marriage," Justice Nagarathna said.
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Counsel for the woman said they met on a matrimonial website in 2022 and he allegedly established physical relations with her on a false promise of marriage on multiple occasions in Delhi and later in Dubai.
Justice Nagarathna questioned the woman about what was the need for her to travel to Dubai and observed that it appears to be a case of consensual relationship.
"She should not have gone before marriage if she was so strict about it. We will send them to mediation. These are not cases which are to be tried and convicted when there is consensual relationship," she said.
Justice Nagarathna asked the counsel for the man to pay some compensation to her and be done with it.
The bench also asked the woman’s counsel to explore the possibility of settlement and posted the matter for hearing on Wednesday to see the views of both the parties. The woman has claimed in her complaint that on his insistence, she travelled to Dubai where he allegedly established physical relations with her on false pretext of marriage and recorded intimate videos without her consent, threatening to circulate them if she resisted.
The woman said that later she learnt that he had married a second woman in January, 2024 in Punjab.
The Delhi High Court and the trial court had dismissed the bail application of the man.
The high court rejected bail, saying the allegations prima facie indicate that the promise of marriage was false from inception, particularly as the petitioner was already married and had married again on January 19, 2024.
Aggrieved by the high court's order, the man approached the top court for bail in the case.
