U23 Wrestling World C’ship: Komal pockets bronze in 59 kg; Pujari into 72 kg finals

Las Vegas: Indian wrestler Komal opened country medal account in the women’s wrestling at the U23 World Championships, bagging a bronze medal in the 59 kg category here on Friday.

Komal defeated Viktoriia Khusainova of Kazakhstan 7-2 to win the bronze medal bout. She began her campaign with a win over Canadian wrestler Ella Marie Finding before beating Madalina Prisacari of Moldova 8-3.

But the Indian fell 1-13 to Alina Filipovych of Uraine. However, she redeemed herself in the bronze medal bout to avoid going home empty-handed.

On the other hand, Amruta Pujari reached the women’s 72 kg finals by pinning Wenjin Qiu in the semifinal. She will next play Ukraine’s Iryna Zablotska for a gold medal on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sweety (53 kg) and Vaishnavi Patil (65 kg) remain in contention for a bronze medal through the repechage route after losing her respective quarterfinals.

In the 53 kg category, Sweety lost her quarterfinal 2-11 to Cristelle Rodriguez Dobler, who then went on to reach the final, allowing the Indian to revive her campaign through repechage.

Sweety will lock horns with Xiaotong Zeng of China for a place in the bronze medal bout later in the day.

Vaishnavi Patil, meanwhile, takes on Japan’s Haruka Kobaru after losing her quarterfinal to Russia’s Ekaterina Koshkina by technical superiority.

India could not field wrestlers in the women’s 50 kg, 55 kg, 57 kg and 62 kg categories and Greco-Roman style’s 60 kg, 77 kg, 82 kg, 97 kg and 130 kg weight divisions, as they were denied visas for being under-20 and having no full-time jobs.

In the previous edition of the U23 Worlds in Novi Sad, Serbia, Indian wrestlers won a total of nine medals - one gold, one silver and seven bronze.

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The Hans India