Tokyo Olympics wrestling: India’s Seema Bisla goes down in opening round

The Indian wrestler lost 3-1 to Tunisia’s Sarra Hamdi in the round of 16 of the 50kg women’s wrestling category.

1 minBy Naveen Peter
CHIBA, JAPAN - AUGUST 05: Joseph Emilienne Essombe Tiako of Team Cameroon competes against Mayu Mukaida of Team Japan during the Women's Freestyle 53kg 1/8 Final on day thirteen of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Makuhari Messe Hall on August 05, 2021 in Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Maddie Meyer/ Getty Images)

India’s Seema Bisla bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics following her 3-1 opening-round loss to Sarra Hamdi of Tunisia in the women’s 50kg weight class at the Makuhari Messe on Friday.

Hamdi later lost her quarter-final bout to the world champion Mariya Stadnik of Azerbaijan and ended Seema Bisla’s hopes of re-entry into the competition via repechage.

The repechage rule in wrestling allows grapplers who have lost early in the competition a second chance, should their victor make it to the final.

In what was a cagey affair, neither wrestler managed a clear takedown as Sarra Hamdi benefitted from the two passivity calls against the Indian in both periods of the bout.

The 28-year-old Seema Bisla had shown great promise building up to the Summer Games. The Indian wrestler won a bronze medal at the Asian championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan and sealed her place for Tokyo 2020 with a win at the world Olympic qualifiers in Sofia, Bulgaria.

India, so far, has won a silver medal in Olympic wrestling at the Tokyo Olympics with Ravi Kumar Dahiya impressing in the freestyle 57kg weight division.