Grappler Monu wins bronze at Cadet Worlds

Wrestler Monu won a bronze medal in the 46 kg freestyle category to help India finish their campaign with three medals including one gold (Anil, 50 kg freestyle) and one silver (Ankush, 38 kg women's freestyle) in the Cadet World Championship here.

India finished fifth in the men's freestyle competition by securing 37 points.

"After winning all the games till quarterfinals, I was confident of going for gold this time but losing a semifinal with a margin of two points was really disappointing," Monu said on Sunday.

"But I didn't give up and made a strong comeback winning the bronze medal match one-sided. I would like to thank my coaches for boosting my morale after losing the semifinal and helping me in winning the medal."

In the run-up to the bronze medal, Monu defeated Asgar Mammadliyev (Azerbaijan) 4-2 and Rustambek Juraev (Uzbekistan) 2-1. However, in the semifinal, Monu lost to Pilidis Georgios (Greece) 2-4. But in the bronze medal match he easily defeated Dzmitry Yarmplchyk (Belarus) 11-0.

In the 100 kg category, Nasir Hussain was in line for a bronze. However, in the match Yakup Yerlikaya of Turkey defeated Nasir by technical fall, 12-2, shattering the aspirations of the Indian grappler.

Earlier in the quarterfinal, Khasanboy Rakhimov of Uzbekistan had beaten Nasir by fall, 10-5. In repechage, Nasir won by technical fall, 10-0, against Aleksandar Pantelic of Serbia and in the pre-quarterfinal, Nasir had floored (4-0) Tibor Medgyes of Hungary.