Commonwealth Games 2022 wrestling: Bronze solace for India’s Pooja Sihag at Birmingham
Pooja Sihag lost in the semi-finals to former world champion Justina Di Stasio but won her bronze medal match in the women’s 76kg freestyle category at Birmingham 2022.
India’s Pooja Sihag had to settle for the bronze medal in the women’s 76kg wrestling competition at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, UK on Saturday.
The 25-year-old from Haryana, a former Asian bronze medallist, beat Australia’s Naomi de Bruine in the bronze medal match to make the podium at Birmingham 2022.
Pooja Sihag won her opening bout at the Coventry Stadium and Arena, beating New Zealand’s Michelle Montague by a 5-3 margin in the quarter-finals but Canada’s Justina Di Stasio, a 2017 world champion, proved too tough a hurdle for the Indian in the semis.
Despite losing the match 6-0, Pooja Sihag made the bronze medal match against Naomi de Bruine.
Bruine, who took up wrestling only in 2017, competed at Gold Coast 2018 and finished seventh. Before that, she was an established judoka and even represented Australia at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.
In the medal bout, Pooja Sihag managed an early two-point takedown and took control of the Aussie on the mat.
The Indian wrestler was in a position to pin her opponent but Bruine did well to avoid the instant defeat. Pooja, though, picked up six points from the move and extended her lead to eight just before the break.
Pooja Sihag stayed defensive after the restart and looked for errors on Bruine’s part. It finally came and the Indian finished off the match with a two-point takedown to win the match by technical superiority.