Bolat Turlykhanov Cup wrestling: Sarita Mor, Manisha add two more gold medals to India’s tally
Bipasha won silver while Sushma Shokeen clinched bronze at the Almaty meet as India’s medals tally rose to 10.
World championships bronze medallist Sarita Mor and Manisha added two more gold medals to India’s tally at the Bolat Turlykhanov Cup 2022 wrestling tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan on Saturday.
Bipasha won silver while Sushma Shokeen and Mohit Grewal bagged bronze medals, respectively, to take India’s medal tally to 10 medals - five golds, one silver, and four bronze - at the ranking series.
Sarita Mor, a two-time Asian champion, won all her three bouts on the day via technical superiority.
Competing in the women’s 59kg category, Sarita Mor blanked Kazakhstan's Diana Kayumova 11-0 in the opening round and then beat another local challenger Aizhan Ismagulova 12-2 in the semi-finals.
Up against the reigning under-23 European champion Zhala Aliyeva of Azerbaijan in the final, Sarita Mor used her experience well to defeat her opponent 10-0 and bagged the gold medal.
Sarita Mor had suffered a narrow 2-1 loss to Anshu in the national trials last month and missed out on a place in the Indian team for the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Manisha, meanwhile, lost her first match in the 65kg category but won the next four bouts on the trot to win gold.
After being beaten by Elis Manolova of Azerbaijan via technical superiority, Manisha stormed back into contention with convincing wins over Kazakhstan’s Yelena Shalygina and Dinora Rustamova of Uzbekistan in the next two rounds.
Manisha continued her run in the semi-finals against Ariukhan Jumabaeva of Uzbekistan with a commanding 10-0 win. In the final, the Indian wrestler set the record straight against Manolova with an 8-0 victory.
Bipasha, competing in the 72kg weight division, lost her second round-robin match to Zhamila Bakbergenova 7-5 to bag silver in a small three-woman field.
Sushma Shokeen, meanwhile, received a walkover from Khishigsuren Batbold of Mongolia in her opening round match in 55kg.
Shokeen, who won bronze at the Asian championships last month, then beat Ainur Ashimova of Kazakhstan 10-8 before losing to Shokhida Akhmedova of Uzbekistan 9-0 to miss out on the gold medal match. In the bronze medal match, Sushma Shokeen pinned down Ainur Ashimova to claim a podium finish. Mohit Grewal, competing in men's freestyle125kg, also settled for bronze.
Earlier in the day, Indian women’s wrestlers Neelam (50kg) and Pooja Gehlot (53kg) missed out on medals after losing their respective quarter-final matches. Men’s freestyle wrestler Deepak Nehra (97kg) also suffered the same fate.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Bajrang Punia (65kg), Olympian Deepak Punia (86kg) and two-time Asian silver medallist Gourav Baliyan (79kg), will take the mat on Sunday.