NEW DELHI: Indian women had a mixed outing on the third day of the junior Asian wrestling championships here on Thursday, managing a silver and two bronze medals.
While all five Indians in action reached medal rounds, their performances failed to impress.
The biggest hope for the host, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Divya Kakran — the only one in the competition here who would also be on the flight to Jakarta for the Asian Games — lost 0-11 by technical superiority to Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan in the final.
Incidentally, she had lost to the same opponent in the bronze-medal playoff at the Asian Championships earlier this year. With a bye in the first round and a walkover in the quarterfinals, Divya managed to win her only other bout of the day in the semifinals before being outclassed in the title clash.
Sangeeta Phogat, however, would consider herself unlucky. The youngest of Phogat sisters fought hard but with a limp and a non-responsive knee due to an injury earlier in the day, she could hardly move and lost 5-10 to China’s Juanjuan Shi.
“There was a gap in the mat during my quarterfinal bout and I slipped and twisted my knee when I fell then. I tried to fight with painkillers and thought I could manage but then she (Shi) grabbed the same knee and pulled it, after which I just couldn’t do anything,” a disappointed Sangeeta said.
She did come close, going from 0-4 to 4-5 before the above-mentioned move ended her hopes despite managing to get into an advantageous position repeatedly. The fact that she received two cautions for fouls early on did not help either.
Karuna, one of the two bronze medallists, won 10-0 by technical superiority in the medal round, finishing in just over four minutes in the 76kg after Reena opened India’s account with an 8-2 win over Uzbek Khodicha Najimova in the 55kg.
Shivani Pawar, the other Indian, was pinned to the mat in the first round by her Kazakh opponent and conceded the bout.
The standings (gold, silver and bronze medals):
Women: 50kg: Miyu Nakamura (Jpn); Yumei Zhong (Chn); Anudari Nandintsetseg (Mgl); Marina Zakhshevskaya (Kaz).
55kg: Sena Nagamoto (Jpn); Jiajing Hou (Chn); Khaliunaa Bayaraa (Mgl); Reena (Ind).
59kg: Yuzuro Kumano (Jpn); Nabira Esenbaeva (Uzb); Purevsuren Ulziisaikhan (Mgl); Juanjuan Shi (Chn).
68kg: Meerim Zhumanzarova (Kgz); Divya Kakran (Ind); Man Zhing (Chn); Hyeonyeong Park (Kor).
76kg: Aiperi Medet Kyzy (Kgz); Yuzhen Ding (Chn); Karuna (Ind).
