Sakshi loses quarters bout to Japanese

Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik suffered a crushing quarterfinal loss at the World Championship here on Wednesday. Sakshi was outclassed 2-16 by Japan’s Yukako Kawai, a two time World Cup gold medallist in the 62kg category. Sakshi had endured a below-par show at the Commonwealth Games, where she won a bronze in a weak field and failed to reach the medal round at the Jakarta Asian Games.

Young Ritu Malik kept India in medal contention by reaching the bronze play-off. Ritu, edged out Bulgaria’s Sofiya Hristova Georgieva 9-8 in the repechage round despite lagging behind twice in an exciting bout. She trailed 0-3 after the first period but a four-point throw in the second period and a step outpoint pushed her ahead 5-3.

However, the confident Bulgarian reduced the deficit to one point soon. Ritu again found a four-point move to zoom to a 9-6 lead. Sofiya kept Ritu Malik under pressure but the Indian grappler just about managed to maintain her lead to progress to the medal round.

In the 50kg category, Ritu Phogat made a fine start by winning the pre-quarterfinal against Thi Yuan Nguyen by technical superiority but lost the quarter-final to Yui Susaki. Pinki (53kg) lost to Poland’s Katarzyna Krawczyk 2-7 in the quarter-final while Pooja Dhanda lost 3-4 to China’s Ningning Rong in the 57kg.

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