Rome Ranking Series: Bajrang Punia wins gold and becomes World No.1

Defending champion Bajrang Punia defeated Tulga Tumur Ochir (MGL) by 2-2 by criteria to claim gold. Earlier he had cruised into the Matteo Pellicone finals after a dominant win against the USA's Joseph Christopher Mc Kenna on Sunday. With this win the 26-year-old has also become world number one in UWW rankings.

The Indian wrestler started his Rome Rankings Series campaign, his first UWW tournament in one year, in a dominant fashion. In the first match, he thrashed Turkey's Selim Kozan 7-0. It was followed by a 6-3 victory over Mc Kenna in the semifinal.

Meanwhile, Narsingh Yadav lost to Kazakh wrestler Daniyar Kaisanov by 0-5 to loose in bronze medal match after suffering a defeat against the 2012 London Olympics gold medallist Jordan Burroughs in semifinal

Narsingh, who is participating in his second international competition after making comeback, started strongly. He defeated the local boy Luca Finizio 12-0, only to face Burroughs in the semifinal.

However, the Indian wrestler never looked like a competition against one of the USA's greatest wrestlers. Burroughs was the first to get on the scoreboard after pushing Narsingh out of bounds. Burroughs played by his strength and attacked the 2015 world championship bronze medallist's legs to get two more points on the board. The match ended at 4-1, with Narsingh securing the lone point with a push out.

Vishal Kaliramana, Indian newly crowned National Champion, wins Bronze medal (70 kg) after defeating Kazakh wrestler Syrbaz Talgat by 5-1. Earlier in the day he had lost to same wrestler by 3-6 in round 2

Rome Ranking Series Day 4 Results

Round 1

Freestyle – 92kg

(TUR) Selim YASAR df (IND) Parveen by 10- 0

Round 1

Freestyle – 70kg

TUR) Muhammet Nuri df (IND) Rahul by 3-1

Qualification

Freestyle – 74kg

(PUR) Franklin GOMEZ df (IND) Sandeep MANN by 11-4

Round 1

Freestyle – 70kg

(IND) Vishal df (CAN) Dillon Emmanuel by 5-3

Round 2

Freestyle – 70kg

Syrbaz TALGAT (KAZ) df. Vishal KALIRAMANA (IND) 6-3

Quarterfinals

Freestyle – 65kg

(IND) Bajrang df (TUR) Selim KOZAN by 7-0

Round 2

Freestyle – 92kg

(TUR) Erhan df (IND) Parveen by 10-0

Quarterfinals

Freestyle – 65kg

(IND) Rohit df (IRI) Behnam Eshagh by 9-8

Quarterfinals

Freestyle – 74kg

Narsingh Pancham YADAV (IND) df. Luca FINIZIO (ITA) by 12-0

Semi-Final

Freestyle – 70kg

Alec William PANTALEO (USA) df. Vishal KALIRAMANA (IND) by 10-0

Semi-Final

Freestyle – 74kg

Jordan BURROUGHS (USA) df Narsingh YADAV (IND) by 4- 1

Semi-Final

Freestyle – 65kg

Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL) df. Rohit (IND) by 4- 0

Semi-Final

Freestyle – 65kg

BAJRANG (IND) df. Joseph Christopher (USA) by 6- 3

Bronze Medal Match

Freestyle – 65kg

Hamza ALACA (TUR) df. Rohit IND), 12-10

Final

Freestyle – 65kg

BAJRANG (IND) df. Tulga TUMUR OCHIR (MGL) by 2-2

Bronze Medal Match

Freestyle – 70kg

Vishal KALIRAMANA (IND) df. Syrbaz TALGAT (KAZ) by 5-1

Bronze Medal Match

Freestyle – 74kg

Daniyar KAISANOV (KAZ) df.Narsingh YADAV (IND) by 5-0

Inputs from wrestlingtv.in