Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 15: India’s Vishvajit Ramchandra More became the country’s first Greco-Roman silver medalist at the U23 World Wrestling Championships after losing 12-13 to Georgia’s Koba Karumidze in the men’s 55kg final on Thursday.
More came close to winning gold, but Karumidze edged ahead in the closing seconds to claim the title. The Indian had earlier become the first from the country to reach a Greco-Roman final at the competition. The silver adds to the two bronze medals he won at the previous editions.
More began his campaign with a narrow 10-8 victory over Mexico’s Isaac Marin Mata before defeating Iran’s reigning U20 world champion Armin Shamsipour 8-1 in the quarter finals. He then overcame Russia’s Malik Gigiev 7-4 in the semi finals to secure his place in the title bout.
Karumidze then reached the finals after defeating Kyrgyzstan’s Barsbek Asankozhoev.
In the women’s competition, Komal remained in contention for bronze after losing her semi final to Ukraine’s Alina Filipovych by technical superiority. Diksha Malik also stayed in the bronze medal race in the 68kg category.
Mansi Lather’s campaign ended in the quarter finals following a narrow 9-10 defeat against Italy’s Laura Godino.
India’s other Greco Roman wrestlers failed to reach the medal rounds. Chetan lost in the pre-quarter finals, while Karan Kamboj suffered a technical superiority defeat in the qualification round.
Notably, India’s campaign was also affected by visa rejections ahead of the 2026 championships in Las Vegas. Nine wrestlers from the Greco-Roman and women’s categories were denied visas. This, reportedly, happened because they were under 20 and did not hold full time jobs.
