A determined Ramesh defeated Alexandr Burca of Moldova in the repechage round of the 74kg freestyle event. The Indian fought back well from a 0-3 deficit to tie 7-7 at the end of the final bout and was declared winner on the basis of technical points Wednesday night.

Asked if his Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar was an inspiration for him, Ramesh said: 'My past performances motivated me. I had won gold in the sub-junior (1997) and junior (2001) World Championships. I knew that a gold in the senior meet was not far. This time I won the bronze but I will try for the gold next time.'

Ramesh said his next target is the Commonwealth Games, but rued that the sport was not attracting enough sponsors despite Sushil's Beijing triumph.

'We are getting good facilities but not sponsors. Only Railways helps us. If we don't get sponsors, youngsters won't take up the sport because you can't make a living out of it,' he said.