Astana, Oct 28 (PTI) India’s high from Tuesday, when two women stormed into the gold medal bouts, gave way to a disappointing day on Wednesday as four wrestlers suffered early defeats, while Rajnita was eliminated from the medal race at the World Wrestling Championships here.
Three Indians lost their pre-quarterfinal bouts, while one suffered defeat in the qualification round.
Rajnita’s campaign in the women’s 65kg category also ended after she lost 2-6 to Japan’s Nana Ikehata in the repechage round, even as she fought hard, and it was the experience of the Japanese which got her the crucial win.
The most surprising setback came in the 53kg category, where Nishu, after opening her campaign with a confident ‘victory by fall’ over Morocco’s Sabah Kaneb, went down 0-8 to Romania’s Andreea Beatrice Ana in the pre-quarterfinals.
Ana was quick with her counter-attacks and never allowed the Indian to execute a successful offensive move, securing a comprehensive victory to end Nishu’s campaign.
Srishti also made a promising start in the women’s 68kg category, blanking Uzbekistan’s Firuza Esenbaeva 8-0 in her opening bout. But she failed to carry the momentum into the pre-quarterfinals, losing 1-5 to Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova.
The first period saw little attacking action, with both wrestlers largely engaged in standing position. Zhumanazarova took the lead through a passivity point and carried it into the break.
Srishti attempted a single-leg attack in the second period, but Zhumanazarova countered swiftly, converting the move into a two-point takedown to consolidate her advantage and seal the win.
In the women’s 62kg category, Neha Sangwan was overwhelmed by Russian top seed Amina Tandelova, who needed just 76 seconds to register a dominant victory.
Tandelova opened with a lightening-quick takedown before executing consecutive gut wrenches and two leg-lace rolls to finish the bout in a little over a minute.
Tanu Sharma’s campaign in the women’s 72kg category ended in the qualification round after she lost 2-9 to Poland’s Wiktoria Choluj.
India, however, will have two opportunities to add to its medal tally later in the day, with Kajal Dhochak competing in the women’s 76kg gold medal bout and Neelam Sirohi fighting for the title in the 50kg category.
The two Indians had scripted a memorable day for the country on Tuesday by reaching the finals, marking a significant achievement for Indian women’s wrestling at the world championships. PTI APS APS DDV
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