Women wrestlers continued India's fine run with four more medals - 1 silver and 3 bronze - at the Asian Championships. Four medal wins took the host haul to 8, which is best-ever for India at the event.
The star of the evening for India, as expected, was Rio Olympics bronze medalist?Sakshi Malik. The 27 year-old won the only silver for India on the day. Sakshi, competing in the 65 kg category, took on Japan¡¯s Naomi Ruike in the gold medal match. Unfortunately, despite putting up a great fight, the Indian wrestler lost by a narrow margin of 2-0.??
Another well-known name in the Indian delegation and a medal hopeful in the upcoming?Tokyo Olympics, Vinesh Phogat in the 53 kg category, had to settle for Bronze. Still, she managed a very dominant performance in the bronze medal match by thrashing Vietnam¡¯s Thi Ly Kieu 10-0.??
Two other bronze medals came India¡¯s way on the day courtesy Anshu Malik and Gursharan Preet Kaur in the 57 and 72 kg category respectively. Anshu won her first-ever Asian Championship medal after her victory over Uzbekistan¡¯s Sevara Eshmuratova 4-1 while Gursharan got the better of Mongolia¡¯s Tsevegmed Enkhbayar 5-2.??
A day earlier, India had claimed four medals - 3 gold and a silver, which was the best haul for India a single day of the competition.?Divya Kakran?(68kg), Sarita Mor (59kg) and Pinki (55kg) were the pick of the bunch, showing a great deal of maturity and character to clinch their first ever gold each in women's freestyle.??
While?Nirmala Devi had to settle for a silver?after losing 50kg title clash 2-3 against?Japan¡¯s Igarashi Miho, in a keenly-contested bout.??
With a sublime overall performance, it bodes well for India with Tokyo Olympics not far away.