Vishwajeet More wins silver at U-23 World Championship, loses 12-13 in Greco-Roman final

Indian wrestler Vishwajeet Ramchandra More on Thursday won India's first silver medal in the Greco-Roman category of the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships. In the final of the men's 55 kg weight class, he lost 12-13 in the closing moments to Georgia's Koba Karumidze.

More has earlier won two bronze medals at the Under-23 World level. With this silver, he has become the only Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win two medals at the Under-23 World Championships.

On Tuesday, he had become the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to reach the final of the Under-23 World Championships. His path to the final went through three tough bouts. He began by beating Mexico's Isaac Marin Mata 10-8.

In the quarter-final he faced Iran's Armin Shamsipour, the Under-20 World champion. Shamsipour had a shoulder injury, and More used a four-point throw to win the bout 8-1.

In the semi-final he met Russia's Malik Gigiev. That bout was also thrilling, and both wrestlers benefited from challenges to the referee's decision. In the end, More won 6-4.

He went into the final with great energy. Had he won, he would have been the first Indian wrestler to win gold in the Greco-Roman event at the Under-23 World Championships, but he had to settle for silver after losing to the Georgian.

India's campaign also ran into a visa problem. Nine Indian wrestlers, from the Greco-Roman and women's squads, were denied visas for the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas. The reason given was that they were under 20 years of age and did not have a full-time job.

WFI president Sanjay Singh said the US Embassy had cancelled the visas of the Indian wrestlers by describing all of them as unemployed. According to him, this had happened for the first time in history. He also said the UWW president had written to him about the matter.

Sanjay Singh said the visa rejection was entirely the fault of the US Embassy and that India had lost a gold medal because of it. He said at least two of the wrestlers denied visas were strong contenders for gold, and that the embassy's lapse had cost India a large number of medals.