Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian woman wrestler to win two medals at the World Championships on Wednesday, taking bronze in 53kg against Emma Jonna Malmgren of Sweden.
Vinesh, 28, also won bronze in the 2019 edition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Vinesh made an incredible comeback after losing in the qualification round, defeating Malmgren 8-0 in the bronze medal round.
She advanced to the bronze play-off round after losing to Mongolia’s Khulan Batkhuyag, the silver medalist at the 2022 Asian Championships, in her first bout on Tuesday.
After Batkhuyag reached the final, Vinesh, a three-time Commonwealth Games champion, advanced to the repechage round.
Vinesh advanced to the bronze medal round after first beating Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan in a Victory by Fall (4-0) decision and then winning the next bout after her opponent Leyla Gurbanova of Azerbaijan did not show up due to injury.
Sarita Mor came out strong as she won her opening bout 4-2 against against the world u-23 bronze medalist Hannah Taylor of Canada in the women’s 57KG format, but her strength was short lived and she went on to lose against Anehlina Lsak of Poland 0-7.
Mansi Alhawat also suffered a loss as she was knocked out by Jowita Maria Wrzein of Poland in the 59KG category quarterfinals. She was out of the repechage contention after she suffered this loss.
Nisha Dahiya will be fighting for the bronze medal on Thursday in the 68KG category, her run was pretty solid as she defeated Sofiya Georgieva of Bulgaria 11-0. She would have competing for gold if she did not lose to the reigning junior world champion Ami Ishii of Japan in the semi finals.
Nisha was leading 2-0 and was really close to securing her spot in the finals but her opponent managed to overpower her in the last few seconds of the match to win it 4-3.
Reetika also suffered a loss when she was defeated by Kendra Augustine Jocelyne Dacher of France in the 72KG category.
Overall India fared well in the World Championship and these performances will surely make them confident for the next big tournament.
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