Phogat’s bronze medal feat
VINESH PHOGAT last Wednesday (14) became the first Indian woman wrestler to win two medals at the World Championships as she clinched a 53kg bronze by defeating Sweden’s Emma Jonna Malmgren in Belgrade.
Phogat, 28, had also won a bronze in the 2019 edition of the tournament in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
It was a remarkable comeback for Phogat after her opening round defeat as she beat Malmgren 8-0 in the bronze medal round. She had made it to the bronze play-off via the repechage round after losing to Khulan Batkhuyag of Mongolia, the 2022 Asian championships silver medallist, in her first bout last Tuesday (13).
Phogat, a triple Commonwealth Games champion, made it to the repechage round after Batkhuyag reached the final.
In the round, she first beat Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan in a ‘victory by fall’ (4-0) decision and then won the next bout after injury to her opponent Leyla Gurbanova of Azerbaijan to advance to the bronze medal round.
In the women’s 57kg, 2021 world bronze medalist Sarita Mor won her opening bout 4-2 against world U-23 bronze medalist Hannah Taylor of Canada. Mor then lost to Anhelina Lysak of Poland 0-7.
Mansi Ahlawat was eliminated after her defeat to Jowita Maria Wrzesien of Poland 3-5 in the 59kg quarter-final. The Indian was out of repechage contention also after Jowita lost in the semifinal.
In the 68kg category, Nisha Dahiya lost her bronze medal match last Thursday (15) by fall to Canada’s Linda Morais. She had advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Sofiya Georgieva of Bulgaria 11-0, but went down 4-5 to reigning junior world champion Ami Ishii of Japan in the round of four.
Reetika lost 2-6 in the first round to Kendra Augustine Jocelyne Dacher of France in the 72kg contest.