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Wrestler Amit Kumar stays in medal hunt

Indian wrestler Amit Kumar on Friday moved into the repechage round of the men’s 55kg event at the Olympics.

Kumar, who received a first round bye, lost out in the quarter-final to Vladimer Khinchegashvili of Georgia. Khinchegashvili then qualified for the finals giving Amit an opportunity to fight for the bronze medal. The rule says that only those can reach the repechage round who lose against either finalist, at any stage of the competition up to and including the semi-finals.

Kumar is the youngest Indian wrestler to qualify for the Olympics.

Amit will take on the winner of the contest between Ibrahim Farag Mohammed of Egypt and Rodoslav Marinov Velikov of Bulgaria in the repechage.

The 19-year-old Amit, meanwhile, was simply no match for the strong Georgian who won the first period comfortably after gaining four technical points while Amit got none. The Indian team challenged a decision but to no avail.

The Indian could not capitalise on a clinch in the first round as the Georgian had him nearly pinned to the mat and scored three technical points in the process.

In the second period, Amit made a desperate bid to gain points and was a lot more aggressive but his rival was technically superior than him to allow him any leeway. The Indian could manage just one point as against the three managed by his rival.

Khinchegashvili won the bout comfortably with a 3-1 verdict.

Earlier, Indian male grapplers started their Olympic campaign on a mixed note with the youngest member of the contingent, Amit Kumar Dahiya, progressing to the quarter-finals even as Narsingh Pancham Yadav lost in his opening bout.

Living upto his billing, the 19-year-old Amit showed great skills to comeback into the match after losing the first period 1-0 against Hassan Sabzali Rahimi of Iran in the 55kg free style category. Amit won the bout 3-1 in the third period after managing to claw back his way through a clinch in the second period.

The Delhi grappler, who in his very first international meet in the United States earlier this year won a gold, managed to hold on his Iranian opponent till the second period before getting lucky with the toss to earn himself a clinch position, which he utilised to the best of his capabilities.

Narsingh, however, looked off-colour against Matthew Judah Gentry, losing the first period 3-0 and then allowing the Canadian to make a comeback in the second period after taking the initial lead.