Lacky in gold contention at U17 world championship

Athens (Greece), Aug 1 (PTI) India's young wrestler Lacky put himself in line to become a world champion by reaching the men's freestyle 110kg title clash at the U17 World Championship, here Friday.

Putting up a very impressive show, Lacky beat rivals from powerhouses Japan, and Iran en route to the gold medal.

He opened with a technical superiority win over Japan's Hanto Hayashi and followed that up with an 8-0 won over Georgia's Murtaz Bagdavadze.

In the high-scoring semifinal, Lacky was leading 15-7 against Iran's Amirhossein M. Naghdalipour before pinning his rival to storm into the final where he will clash with Magomedrasul Omarov, who is playing under the UWW flag.

Gourav Punia (65kg) was also impressive, winning his first two bouts by technical superiority without losing a point but lost his quarterfinal to American Arseni Kikiniou.

Since the American reached the final, the repechage route brought Punia back in the medal hunt. He now needs to win two bouts to secure a podium finish.

Shivam (48kg) bowed out after losing closely fought 1/8 bout 6-7 to Kazakhstan's Sabyrzhan Rakhatov.

The Kazkajh later lost his quarterfinal, shutting the repechage route on the Indian.

Jaiveer Singh (55kg) made a solid start, winning by technical superiority against local rival Ioannis Kesidis but lost his quarterfinal 0-3 to American Greyton F. Burnett, who later lost his semifinal to make exit. PTI AT AT UNG