Anshu Malik, Radhika clinch silver medals at Asian Championships; Manisha wins bronze

Ulaanbaatar, April 22

Anshu Malik’s lost in the title clash after winning three bouts in a dominant fashion to clinch a silver in the 57kg category at the Asian Wrestling Championships here today.

Radhika also won a silver in the 65kg category, while Manisha bagged a bronze in the 62kg division.

Malik was dominance personified as she won all her bouts by technical superiority before losing by fall to Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan in the 57kg class final.

The 20-year-old defending champion from Haryana’s Nidani village dished out a strong performance and toyed with her opponents to assure herself a third Asian Championships medal.

She had won a bronze in the 2020 edition and the 57kg class gold last year in Almaty.

Malik, the first Indian woman wrester to reach the World Championships final last year, began with a win over Uzbekistan’s Shokhida Akhmedova and followed that up with another dominating victory over Singapore’s Danielle Sue Ching Lim.

She hardly gave her rivals time to think or strategise as she pulled off move after move with ease to bamboozle them.

She overpowered Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu in the semifinals, beginning with a four-point throw that was effected after a double-leg attack. Easy takedowns and push-out points meant the last-four stage bout ended in two minutes and 12 seconds.

Radhika emerged victorious against Dariga Aben of Kazakhstan in her Round 5 bout to clinch the silver.

Manisha, meanwhile, settled for a bronze after losing to South Korea’s Hanbit Lee. The Indian, who has been doing well in the 62kg category in domestic events for some time, lost her semifinal bout in just 40 seconds to Japan’s Nonoka Ozaki to bow out of the gold medal race.

Ozaki trapped her in a leg-lace move early in the contest and finished the bout in a jiffy. This was after Manisha was off to a flying start, winning 9-0 against Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym Kassymova.