New Delhi: Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat and Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik settled for a bronze each at the Asian Wrestling Championships 2019 at Xi’an in China on Friday.
Vinesh, who won the 2018 Commonwealth and Asian Games gold in 50 kg, decided to move up to 53 kg ahead of Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Even though the 24-year-old lost her quarter-final bout to Japan’s Mayu Mukaida 0-10 by technical superiority verdict, she did get to play the repechage after Mukaida advanced to the final.
She made the most of her second chance by beating Jo Cih Chiu of Taipei 6-0.
In the bronze medal play-off, she prevailed over Qianyu Pang of China 8-1.
In a tight match in 62 kg, Sakshi claimed the bronze with a 9-6 win over Hyon Gyong Mun of North Korea.
Pooja Dhanda (57 kg) and Navjot Kaur (65 kg) were not as lucky as they lost their respective semi-final contests to return empty-handed.
A year after making history as the first Indian woman to win a gold at the Asian Wrestling Championships, Navjot was blanked 0-7 by Aina Temirtassova of Kazakhstan in the bronze medal play-off.
The 2018 World Championships bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda too came up short in the bronze medal bout.
With Divya Kakran (68 kg) and Manju Kumari (59 kg) winning bronze medals on Thursday, the women’s wrestling competition came to an end with India winning a total of four bronze medals. (ANI)
