Vaishnavi's dominance, Harshvardhan and Dinesh rally light up day 1 for Maharashtra

Nagpur: Vaishnavi Torve, Dinesh Malpote, and Harshvardhan Mali registered victories in contrasting fashion to start Maharashtra's campaign in the chief minister's cup U-15 national wrestling championship on a high note.

While Vaishnavi, a small-town girl from Loni Deulkar in Indapur Taluka of Pune district, delivered a dominant display in the first final of the day, played in front of CM Devendra Fadnavis, Dinesh and Harshvardhan rallied from two points down to surprise the experienced grapplers from Haryana in close contests to emerge as champions.

In the 46kg women's freestyle final, Vaishnavi thrashed Anshika Yadav of Delhi 10-0 to open Maharashtra's gold medal account. In a dominant display, Vaishnavi took just 1 minute and 45 seconds to clinch the yellow metal. Trained by Prakash Kodekar at a small town near Pandharpur, Vaishnavi won the national gold medal on debut. "I got my grip in the initial stage, and that was enough for me to win the bout. Though this is my first national medal, I am optimistic about doing well in the Asian Championship and look forward to making my parents and country proud," Vaishnavi told TOI.

Dinesh Malpote, a farmer's son from Mulashi Taluka of Pune, followed Vaishnavi's feat with a gold medal in the 57kg freestyle boys' final. In a thrilling summit clash, Dinesh defeated Jatin Singh of Haryana 3-2. Trained under Olympian Ravinder Khatri at the Hindkesari Amol Buchade Academy in Pune, Dinesh aims to become one of India's Olympic medallists. "My coach is working very rigorously with me, and our aim is to first win a medal in the Asian Championship. Thereafter, my target is to become one of the youngest medallists in the 2028 LA Olympics," Dinesh told TOI.

Later, Harshvardhan Mali added the third gold medal for Maharashtra when he outclassed Haryana's Sawan Singh 7-5 to emerge as champion in the 48kg freestyle boys' final.

In an exciting 52kg boys' final, Maharashtra's Shrikant Sawant suffered a heartbreaking defeat when he was tied with Prathamesh Patil from Services 5-5. With Prathamesh scoring the last point, he was declared the winner.

Overall, Maharashtra finished the opening day with three gold medals, three silver, and five bronze medals. Haryana wrestlers, however, took the opening day's honours by winning as many as five gold medals.