Wrestlers continue to disappoint at World meet

Indian grapplers continued to disappoint at the World Wrestling Championships here with the female and Greco-Roman contestants unable to make a mark.

Babita, who reached the quarterfinals of the 53kg category, was the only female wrestler to show some promise while the others faltered at the initial hurdles in their respective categories on Wednesday.

Babita sailed through the first few rounds. She outclassed Aide Maryory Cuero Munoz of Columbia 17-4, blanked Spain's Karima Sanchez Ramis 9-0 and defeated Nina Hemmer of Germany 13-6 to reach the last eight stage.

But the 2012 World Championship bronze medallist lost to Xuechun Zhong of China 2-6 in the quarterfinals to crash out of the tournament.

Vinesh and Navjot Kaur -- the two other Indians in the female section -- crashed out in the first rounds of their respective categories.

Vinesh (48kg) was defeated 4-8 by Kim Hyon-gyong of North Korea while Navjot (69kg) was no match for Alina Stadnik Makhynia of Ukraine, going down 0-8.

In the men's Greco-Roman category, Manoj Kumar (85kg) lost to Rami Antero Hietaniemi of Finland 0-10 in the pre-quarterfinals.