A historic medal for India! Wrestler Vishvajit More won the first ever Greco-Roman silver at the U23 WC

Vishvajit More (SAI Photo) Indian wrestler Vishvajit Ramchandra More made history by winning silver in the men’s 55kg Greco-Roman style at the World Under-23 Championships in Las Vegas on Thursday.He narrowly lost 12-13 to Georgia’s Koba Karumidz in the final seconds of the gold medal clash to become the first Indian to win silver in a Greco-Roman event at the U23 World Championships.More had earlier won two bronze medals at the same event, making him the only Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to secure two medals at the Under-23 WC. He also became the first Indian wrestler to reach the finals in the category on Tuesday.

More is an impressive advance to the final

The Indian wrestler secured three hard-fought victories to reach the final. He started with a 10-8 win over Mexico’s Isaac Marin Mata before defeating Iran’s U20 World Champion Armin Shamsipour 8-1 with a four-point roll in the quarterfinals.In the semi-finals, More defeated Russia’s Malik Gigiev 6-4 in another very close match. He then looked to become India’s first Greco-Roman gold medalist at the Under-23 World Championship, but fell short against Karumidze.

Visa denials hit India’s campaign

India’s overall campaign also faced a setback after nine wrestlers across the Greco-Roman and women’s categories were denied US visas. The wrestlers were reportedly rejected because they were under 20 years old and did not have full-time employment.Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Sanjay Singh criticized the decision, saying it affected India’s medal chances.“The US Embassy has denied visas to nine Indian wrestlers on the grounds that they are unemployed. This has happened for the first time in history. Even the President of UWW has written to them in this regard. This visa denial is entirely the fault of the US Embassy and as a result India has lost medals. Among the nine wrestlers who were denied visas due to India’s loss of one major gold medal were at least two major gold medals. Error embassy,” WFI chief Sanjay Singh told IANS on Wednesday.