Wrestling

According to the rules of wrestling competition at the Olympics, the losers against the eventual finalists get to fight among themselves for a chance against the losing semi-finalist for bronze medal. While the Belarusian Iryna beat Anshu in the pre-quarter final, she prevailed over Russian Olympic Committee (ROC)'s Valeria Koblova in the quarter-finals. She then defeated Bulgaria's Evelina Nikolova in the semi-final.

Dahiya became only the second Indian wrestler in history after Sushil Kumar -- who had entered the 2012 London Olympics final but ended up winning silver -- to make it to the title round at the quadrennial showpiece. Dahiya became only the second Indian wrestler in history after Sushil Kumar -- who had entered the 2012 London Olympics final but ended up winning silver -- to make it to the title round at the quadrennial showpiece.

On the opening day of the wrestling competition, Ravi Dahiya defeated Bulgaria's Georgi Vangelov 14-4 on technical superiority to reach the last-four in the men's 57kg category, while compatriot Deepak Punia overcame China's Zushen Lin 6-3 on points to advance to the semifinals. Dahiya will take on Nurislam Sanayev of Kazakhstan in the last-four, while Punia will be up against David Morris Taylor of the USA.

Competing in the Round-of-16 bout against the Colombian wrestler, the 23-year-old Dahiya, who is making his Olympic debut at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, showed no nerves as he dominated the bout to win by technical superiority (13-2). Dahiya, the reigning Asian champion and World Championships bronze medalist in his weight category, dictated the terms early on and kept Tigreros under pressure.

Not only has the team of seven freestyle wrestlers the task of living up to the reputation of Sushil Kumar, India's only individual double Olympic medallist, but also a commitment to lift the sport from the negativity surrounding it in the wake of some recent developments involving its most revered icon. Even as the Sushil saga lingers on, a pre-Olympic departure 'tradition' is being 'followed' as a top grappler, Sumit Malik.

With less than 50 days to go for the Olympic Games to begin, Vinesh looked strong in defence and swift in attacks and counter-attacks. The gold-winning effort of Vinesh is likely to improve her seeding in the 53kg freestyle event at the Olympics, to be held from July 23 to August 8. In the final match, Vinesh went up 2-0 in the opening 70 seconds of the bout. With less than two minutes on board, she led 4-0.

Vinesh defeated Russia's Ekaterina Poleshchuk 6-2 in her first bout and scored an emphatic 6-0 win over Amy Ann Fearnside of USA in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Anshu Malik has pulled out of the women's 57kg freestyle event as she is down with fever, said a team coach. "Since Anshu is unwell, it has been decided not to field her in the ranking series," the coach told IANS.