Heartbreak as Anshu loses in Worlds final to take silver
Valiant fighter’s dream of becoming first Indian woman world champion falls short against US rival
LUCKNOW: Anshu Malik had vowed it was “now-or-never” ahead of her historic 57kg final at the World Wrestling Championships on Thursday, and it didn’t happen as per her wish in Oslo.
She put her best foot forward, but had to be satisfied with the first ever silver medal by an Indian woman after losing to USA’s Helen Louise Maroulis, an accomplished rival and medallist in the last two Olympics.
Despite her defeat by a fall while trailing 1-4, Anshu, goldmedalist at the Asian Wrestling Championship at Almaty this year, can be proud to return as the first Indian woman to go beyond the bronze barrier at the World Championships.
However, she could not emulate Sushil Kumar, whose 2010 triumph makes him the only Indian to win a gold medal in the championships.
Having eight international medals under her belt in a short career of six years, the 20-yearold from Haryana’s Jind controlled Maroulis, the 2016 Rio 53kg champion and 2020 Tokyo 57kg bronze medallist, for a while and managed a 1-0 lead at the break.
In fact, neither Anshu nor her opponent tried to be aggressive in the beginning. Maroulis though did try to come up with a leg hold after one-and-a-half minutes.
But in the second period Maroulis, looking for her third world title, swung back quickly and pinned Anshu for four quick points in the blink of an eye, leaving the Indian almost crying in pain.
Anshu lay there for almost two minutes and couldn’t hold her right hand properly. She could barely move her hand even when the referee raised Maroulis’s hand as winner.
Bronze for Sarita
Sarita Mor claimed the second medal for India after winning her bronze-medal playoff against Sweden’s Sara Lindborg 8-2 in the 59kg category.
A trainee of SAI national centre of excellence here in Lucknow since 2016, Anshu’s injury in the right hand made all the difference as she was unable to resists when Maroulis caught hold of her from her right shoulder. She was also given the medical assistance at the end of the bout.
Before Anshu’s silver on Thursday, India’s five medals in the women’s section at the World Championship have been bronze and the winners, include Alka Tomar (2006), Geeta and Babita Phogat (both 2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019).
Her experience of winning against world champion Linda Morais, European and U23 world champion Grace Bullen, Veronika Chumikova and Evelina Nikolova in the past could have made a difference, but 2016 Rio Olympics gold-medallist Maroulis struck the right chord to finish the bout in style.
Overall Anshu became sixth Indian to fight for the goldmedal match at the World Championship so far after Sushil Kumar (2010-gold), Bishambar Singh (1967), Amit Dahiya (2013), Bajrang Punia (2018) and Deepak Punia (2019).
Earlier, 2020 Asian Champion Divya Kakran exited after losing in repechage round to Enkh Amar Davaanasan of Mongolia 2-6 before other prominent names like Harpreet Singh, Sajan and Vikas too lost on the sixth day of the championship.
Anshu’s loss on Thursday left her father Dharmvir Malik a bit disappointed. “Dard honey ke baad bhee mahari chori ne kaamal kar diya ji and silver jeeta (despite being in pain my daughter did great and win a silver medal),” said Malik.
“We all were expecting her to win gold as it’s a long standing dream of mine, but no worries. It’s just a beginning for her and I am proud on her effort,” he said, adding, “I couldn’t sleep last night and woke up early today as goosebumps didn’t allow me to sleep properly,” he said, adding, “I wasn’t alone facing this problem in the family, but everyone at home was anxious.”
“It’s really great on her part as she didn’t care about her pain and kept fighting hard ever since she came back home after her loss at the Tokyo Olympics. I believe if she was not in pain, she could have won gold today.”
“Besides doing strenuous training at home, Anshu kept equal focus on her studies and before going to Norway, she did appear in her final year of examination also. She (Anshu) had offers for jobs from government organization as soon as she came back from Tokyo, but she chose to complete her graduation first as once she is graduate, she will be getting reputed job.”
Her coach Jagdish,who has been training Anshu since 2014 at the Chaudhary Bharat Singh Memorial Sports School, sounded satisfied with Anshu’s performance in the final. “Manne to pata tha ki mahari cheli kuch bada karegi (I knew that my trainee would do something big). It’s big that she won a silver medal as it never happened before in India.”