Harpal Singh Bedi
Four days after the event began, it was celebration time in the Indian camp, as Vinesh Phogat (53kg) clinched country’s first medal at the UWW World Senior Wrestling Championships at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on Wednesday. and became the first Indian grappler to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics .
In the process Phogat become the fifth Indian woman wrestler to win a Worlds medal after Alka Tomar (2006) Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Kumari (2012), and Pooja Dhanda (2018).
Pooja (59kg), meanwhile, will attempt to win a bronze medal from the Worlds for the second consecutive year as she entered the bronze medal bout which is scheduled to be held on Thursday. Also, in action on Day 6 will be India’s gold medal prospect Bajrang Punia (65kg), who is the top seed in his category.
For Vinesh, her fourth appearance at the World Championships finally delivered a medal after she changed her weight category from 50kg to 53kg. The Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist pinned the two-time World Championships medallist Maria Prevolaraki of Greece to grab the bronze medal with a 4-1 win.
Earlier in the day, Vinesh showed some exceptional defence to knock out last year’s runner-up and World No. 1 Sarah Hildebrandt with an 8-2 win in her second repechage round, which gifted her the Tokyo berth. Vinesh had begun her repechage bouts with a strong 5-0 win over Ukraine’s Yuliya Khalvadzhy in the first round.
While Vinesh brought delight, it was heartbreak for Seema Bisla in 50kg as she went down 3-11 to Russia’s Ekaterina Poleshchuk in her second repechage bout following a win over Nigeria’s Miesinnei Mercy Genesis in the first repechage round.
Meanwhile, Dhanda exuded confidence in the 59 kg non-Olympic category with a couple of wins. Pooja first outplayed Belarus’ Katsiaryna Hanchar by technical superiority in a 12-2 verdict to set up a quarter-final showdown with top seed, Japan’s Yuzuka Inagaki, whom she edged 8-7 in a gritty and close contest.
In the semi-finals, however, Russia’s Liubov Ovcharova, the 2017 European champion, proved to be an uphill task for the Indian, where the latter went down 0-10. Dhanda will now aim to become the only Indian female wrestler to win multiple World Championships medals when she takes the mat for the bronze medal contest.
None of the other women grapplers could make a mark on Day 5. Sarita Mor (57kg) succumbed to a 1-5 defeat to European Championship bronze winner Anastasia Nichita in the qualifications while former Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Navjot Kaur (65kg) was beaten 0-5 by European Championship gold medallist and third seed Elise Manolova.
In 76kg, Kiran could not hold on to her bright start and eventually finished her campaign with a 4-5 loss to third seed Aline Rotter of Germany.
Meanwhile the top seed and reigning Asian champion, Bajrang Punia (65kg) will hope to erase last year’s bitter memories of a painful final defeat and lay his hands on a gold medal from the World Championships for the very first time. The favourite will start his campaign against Poland’s fifth seed Krzysztof Bieńkowski, who lost the bronze medal bout at the 2019 European Championships.
Last year’s champion Takuto Otoguro, who became the youngest Japanese to win the world title, is the second seed and will be Bajrang’s toughest competitor in his quest for the yellow metal.
In 57kg, Ravi Kumar will take on Korea’s Kim in the Round of 32 as the men’s freestyle action begins.
In women’s section, Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik (62kg) has a tricky opener against two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria while Commonwealth and Asian Games bronze medallist Divya Kakran (68kg) has an extremely tough first bout against the reigning Olympic and former world champion Sara Dosho of Japan.