Vinesh Phogat wins bronze in Worlds

BELGRADE: Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday became the first Indian woman wrestler to win two medals at the World Championships as she clinched bronze in 53kg by defeating Emma Jonna Malmgren of Sweden here.

The 28-year-old Vinesh had won bronze in the 2019 edition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. It was a remarkable comeback by Vinesh 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 on Tuesday.

Vinesh, a triple Commonwealth Games champion, made it to the repechage round after Batkhuyag reached the final. In the repechage round, Vinesh 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, advancing to the bronze medal round.

In the 57kg category, Sarita Mor won her opening bout 4-2 against Hannah Taylor of Canada. Sarita 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 semi-final stage.

In 68kg, Nisha Dahiya will fight for bronze on Thursday. She had advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Sofiya Georgieva of Bulgaria 11-0, but later went down 4-5 to reigning junior world champion Ami Ishii of Japan in the last-four phase. Nisha led 2-0 and then 4-3, but her Japanese opponent overpowered her in the dying seconds. Reetika lost 2-6 in the first round to Kendra Augustine Jocelyne Dacher of France in the 72kg contest.