Gourav Balian (79kg) and Deepak (97kg) entered the semifinals of the junior World wrestling championship, but three other Indians suffered defeats here on Monday.
Baliyan, who had attempted to stake his claim in the senior Indian team in the 74kg trials last year, beat his rivals without any fuss.
He began by defeating Tajikistan’s Abubakr Shukurov by technical superiority as his two four-point throws stood out. Baliyan then got past Russia’s Alik Badtiev 5-2 in the quarterfinals.
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He is now up against Iran’s Mohammad Ashghar Nokhodilarimi, who had won the senior title at the Yasar Dogu event in June this year.
Deepak opened his campaign with a 5-1 win over Aliaksei Parkhomenka from Belarus and followed that up with a commanding 9-4 victory against Georgia’s Luka Khutchua.
He will fight it out against America’s Braxton James Amos, who has switched to freestyle from Greco-Roman.
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In the 57kg competition, Shubham was no match for Russia’s Ramazan Bagavudinov, whose superior technical acumen was on display in the quarterfinal bout.
Jaideep (70kg) and Rohit (65kg) won their opening bouts but later lost in the quarterfinals to Russians.