India’s women wrestlers gear up for Worlds
Squad for World Wrestling Championships is named
Wrestling
India has named their Women’s contingent for the upcoming 2019 World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan after holding trials in New Delhi.
The country’s experienced wrestlers in Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik won their bouts quite comfortably to book their slots, while former World Championships bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda slumped to a shock defeat against Sarita Mor.
Dhanda defeat
Participating for a slot in the 57kg class, Dhanda suffered a shock 2-1 loss against Mor to crash out of contention for the multi-nation tournament in Nur-Sultan.
The 68kg category saw Asian Championships bronze medallist Divya Kakran defeat Navjot Kaur 6-3, while Kiran Godara came out on top in a closely contested bout against Gursharanpreet Kaur in the 76kg category.
Malik, Phogat glide through
In the other Olympic weight categories, the likes of Malik, Phogat and 50kg candidate Seema Bisla managed convincing victories to qualify for the Championships.
With only three contestants in her weight category, Phogat needed only a solitary 9-0 win over Pinki to get through in the 53kg weight category.
Meanwhile Malik needed only 58 seconds to prevail over Ankita in her first contest, before making short work of Reshma Mann in the 62kg final.
The Olympic bronze medallist securing her place by storming to victory within the first period.
The six qualified Women’s wrestlers will now compete in the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan. In the globally contested event, the top six ranked wrestlers in each weight category will get automatic qualifications for Tokyo 2020.
The competition, which will be hosted at the Daulet Arena in the Kazakh capital, runs from 14th-22nd of September.
Apart from these Championships, the Indian wrestlers could also forge their path to the Olympics via the Asian Qualification tournaments or the World Qualification competitions - both of which will be held in later months and will have a cumulative of four Olympic slots up for grabs.
Indian Women’s Wrestling squad for World Championships:
50 kg: Seema Bisla
53kg: Vinesh Phogat
57kg: Sarita Mor
62kg: Sakshi Malik
68kg: Divya Kakran
76kg: Kiran Godara