Young Ritu Malik kept India in medal contention by reaching the bronze play-off at the World Wrestling Championship in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday. However, Sakshi Malik and Ritu Phogat suffered a quarterfinal defeat.
Ritu Malik edged out Bulgaria’s Sofiya Hristova Georgieva 9-8 in the repechage round despite lagging behind twice in an exciting bout. Ritu Malik now has a task at hand as she is up against 2017 U-23 world champion and this year’s World Cup gold medal winner Ayana Gempei from Japan.
Olympic medallist Sakshi was outclassed 2-16 by Japan’s Yukako Kawai, a two time World Cup gold winner in the 62-kilogram category.
In the 50 kilogram category, Ritu Phogat, who replaced her injured cousin Vinesh Phogat, made a stupendous start by winning the pre-quarterfinal against Thi Yuan Nguyen by technical superiority but lost the quarterfinal by fall to Yui Susaki, the 2017 world champion in the 48-kilogram category.