Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was on Tuesday pushed out of the title race by reigning champion Mayu Mukaida of Japan at the World Championship here.
It was a second consecutive defeat for Vinesh against the Japanese this season after losing to the two-time World champion at the Asian Championship in China.
Vinesh has Commonwealth Games and Asian Games titles to her name but is yet to win a medal at the Worlds.
However, with Mukaida managing to reach the final, Vinesh was presented with yet another shot at a medal as she will now take on former World Championships bronze medallist Yuliya Khalvadzhy of Ukraine.
A win over her, as well as a win over last year’s runner-up Sarah Hildebrandt, will put Vinesh in the bronze medal bout versus Greece’s two-time World Championships medallist Maria Prevolaraki and also fetch her a highly-coveted Tokyo Olympics qualification.
In another Olympic category, Seema Bisla (50kg) lost her pre-quarterfinal 2-9 to three-time Olympic medallist Mariya Stadnik. But with the latter progressing into the summit clash, Seema got another golden chance at a medal and a 2020 Olympic berth.
For Seema to take the bronze, she needs to first overcome Nigeria’s Miesinnei Mercy Genesis, then gets the better of Yasar Dogu silver medallist Ekaterina Poleshchuk before she can enter the bronze medal contest with China’s Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sun Yanan.
In non-Olympic categories, Komal Gole was too defensive against Turkey’s Beste Altug and lost her 72kg Qualification bout 1-4, while Lalita was outplayed 3-10 by Mongolia’s Bolortuya Bat Ochir in 55kg.
Both Lalita and Komal are now out of the championship since Bolortuya and Altug later lost their respective quarterfinals.
Placed in an extremely tough 53kg bracket, Vinesh made a dominating start by outclassing Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson, winning 13-0 in her opening round.
However, in the much-anticipated clash against World No. 2 Mukaida, Vinesh could not be her usual attacking self and lost 0-7.
The first 60-70 seconds remained without scores as they measured each other. Vinesh lost a point on passivity and from there on, the Japanese began to dominate.
A quick take-down, followed by an expose and another take-down gave the Japanese a commanding 7-0 lead.
Vinesh needed to attack but Mukaida’s defence was like an immovable rock. The Indian made two double-leg attacks and also got hold of Mukaida’s left leg but could not convert those moves into points.
Seema is World No. 3 in 50kg but the seasoned Stadnik did not let her dominate. The consistent double leg attacks by Stadnik always had Seema on the run as she lost points for stepping out.
A take-down followed by a gut-wrench gave Stadnik a 6-0 lead at the break. Seema could only score two points with a take-down towards the end of the bout.
In the 72kg, Komal waited too long to attack. With just 40 seconds to go at 1-1, Komal made two double-leg attacks but only to lose points.
In one last desperate attempt, she attacked the right leg of the Turk but could not convert it into points with Beste staying strong in her defence.
India’s campaign in the Greco-Roman style folded after Naveen lost his 130kg repechage round by technical superiority to Estonia’s Heiki Nabi.
