Bajrang, Vinod assured of at least a silver at U-23 Worlds

Asian champion Bajrang Punia and Vinod Kumar entered the final of their respective weight categories in the men's freestyle event of the U-23 World Wrestling Championship in Poland.

Bajrang defeated Iran's Yones Aliakbar 9-7 in the semifinals of 65kg, while Vinod posted a 2-1 win over a Japanese wrestler in the last-four stage of 70kg to make the gold medal rounds.

Bajrang earlier got the better of Turkey's Yavuz 7-5 in quarterfinals after thrashing Azerbaijan's Ilyasli 5-0.

Bajrang will take on Russian grappler Kuular in the final.

Vinod had beaten Ukrainian Zakariev 5-2 in quarterfinals after blanking Georgia's Mirza 3-0 in his qualification bout.
 

In the final, Vinod will face USA's Lewis.