Teen wrestler Anshu bags silver in Rome
NEWDELHI: Promising India teenager Anshu Malik had to settle for silver after losing to Nigeria’s Odunayo Adekuoroye 10-0 by technical superiority in the women’s 57kg freestyle event of the season’s first major competition, the Ranking Series in Rome on Thursday.
Malik had fought fearlessly in the earlier rounds but couldn’t replicate the form against Adekuoroye and settled for silver on her international debut in the senior category. In the semi-final, she outclassed Jenna Rose Burkert of the United States with a 10-0 scoreline. In the quarter-final, the 18-year-old from Haryana defeated Grace Bullen of Norway. But her most emphatic win came in the pre-quartes in which she beat 2019 world champion from Canada Linda Morais 10-4. Malik took the lead but Morais came back strongly to narrow the lead to 3-6, but the last 60 seconds were decisive as the Indian continued to amass points with ease.
During the selection trials earlier this month, Malik had upset world championship bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda to seal a berth for the Ranking Series and Asian Championships to be held in New Delhi from Feb 18-23.
Performance in the Ranking Series and Asian Championships will be considered for selection for Asian Olympic qualifiers at Xi’an, China, from March 27-29. Going by current form, Malik is a frontrunner for sealing that slot.
Another promising teenager Sonam Malik, who had stunned Rio bronze medallist Sakshi Malik in the trials, wasn’t that lucky on her senior debut. The two-time cadet world champion bowed out in the opening round of the 62kg category, losing 10-0 to Macey Ellen Kilty of the US. National champion Divya Kakran too gave a good account of herself in 68kg but lost to Jakarta Asian Games winner Feng Zhou of China 2-8 in the semi-final.
In Greco-roman, national champion Gurpreet Singh entered the gold-medal round with ease defeating John Walter Stefanowicz of the US 5-0 in the semis, while in 87kg category, Sunil Kumar had to settle for silver after losing to Hungary’s Viktor Lorincz 1-2 to.