U23 World Wrestling Championships 2021: India’s Shivani Pawar settles for silver, Anju wins bronze
Nisha, meanwhile, will have a shot at the bronze medal in the women’s 65kg category on Friday.
India’s Shivani Pawar won the silver medal and Anju clinched the bronze in their respective categories at the U23 World Wrestling Championships 2021 in Belgrade, Serbia on Thursday.
Shivani Pawar, who came through the 50kg qualifiers on Wednesday, was pinned by the reigning junior world champion Emily King Shilson of the USA in the title clash.
This means Shivani became the seventh Indian to win a silver at the U23 worlds. No Indian has ever won gold at the event.
Meanwhile, Anju confirmed her spot on the podium by defeating Virginie Kaze Gascon of Canada in the women’s 55kg bronze medal contest through technical superiority – given when there is a lead of more than 10 points over the opponent.
India can add another bronze to their tally if Nisha wins the women’s 65kg third-place bout on Friday.
Earlier, Nisha blazed through the round of 16 and quarter-finals by pinning both her opponents but her run was cut short in the semis as she lost to Ukraine’s Anastasiia Lavrenchuk 8-4.
Nisha will face the winner of the repechage round for the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, two-time Asian champion Divya Kakran was defeated in the women’s 72kg qualifiers by Anastasiya Alpyeyeva of Ukraine 10-3. However, since Anastasiya reached the final, Divya will contest in the repechage round on Friday.
Similarly, Nitika and Radhika, who lost in the quarter-finals of women’s 57kg and 62kg, respectively, will also compete in the repechage round after their opponents made it to the final.
However, Monika (68kg) and Bipasha (76kg) lost their repechage matches.
While Monika faced a narrow 5-4 defeat against USA’s Alyvia Fiske, Bipasha went down 12-4 to Genesis Valdez of Ecuador.