The Asian Wrestling Championships witnessed a mixed bag of results for the Indian contingent. While Anju and Harshita clinched silver medals, Sarita Mor, a World Championship medalist, made an early exit.
Anju clinched silver at the Asian Wrestling Championships
Anju, a Railways wrestler who had outclassed Vinesh Phogat in the selection trials, competed in the highly competitive 53kg weight category. She logged back-to-back wins by technical superiority against Philippines’ Aliah Rose Gavalez and Sri Lanka’s Nethmi Ahinsa Fernando. She faced some resistance from China’s Chun Lei before prevailing 9-6 in the semifinal. However, in the final, Anju could not score even a single point and lost the match by technical superiority to North Korea’s Ji Hyang Kim.
Harshita, on the other hand, conceded just three points en route to the final. She outclassed Uzbekistan’s Ozoda Zaripboeva by technical superiority (13-3) and beat Kazakhstan’s Anastassiya Panassovich 5-0. However, she could not find a way to go past China’s Qian Jiang, losing the 72kg title clash 2-5.
The championships, however, brought disappointment for Sarita Mor. The 28-year-old World Championship medalist lost her quarterfinal bout 4-8 to Mongolia’s Gantuya Enkhbat. This defeat was a shock as Sarita was a firm medal favourite in this category. Unfortunately, Enkhbat lost her semifinal, closing the repechage route for Sarita.
Despite a tough loss for Sarita, the Indian women’s wrestling team added four more medals to their tally at the Asian Wrestling Championships. Manisha Bhanwala (62kg) and Antim Kundu (65kg) won bronze medals.
Asian Wrestling Championship at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan🇰🇬
The star Indian wrestlers grabbed a total of 4 medals today🇮🇳
A look at the #medal winners and their categories
Anju:🥈in WW 53 kg
Harshita:🥈in WW 72kg
Manisha:🥉in WW 62 kg
Antim:🥉in WW 65 kg@Media_SAI @wfi_wrestling pic.twitter.com/Vjh8kRxKgg— DD India (@DDIndialive) April 14, 2024
Overall, Indian women’s wrestlers ended up with six medals — three silver and as many bronze. Radhika had won a silver in the 68kg competition while Shivanee Pawar had earned a bronze finish on Saturday.
In men’s freestyle wrestling, India had won a silver through Udit (57kg) while Abhimanyou (70kg) and Vicky (97kg) had clinched bronze in their respective categories.
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