Indian girls fail to hold back strong Japanese

New Delhi, May 12 

Three Indian women wrestlers, including Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat, settled for a silver medal each in their respective weight categories at the Asian Wrestling Championship here today. All of them lost to Japanese opponents, who proved to be too strong for them. Ritu Phogat, meanwhile, bagged a bronze medal in the 48kg category without even fighting the bout as her opponent Sun Yanan of China opted out of the third-place playoff after sustaining an injury.

While Sakshi (60kg) and Divya Kakran (69kg) failed to last the entire six minutes in their gold medal bouts, Vinesh (55kg) put a good fight before going down. 

Sakshi not at her best

Making a comeback to the international circuit after the Rio Olympics, Sakshi looked a little rusty while facing Japan’s Risako Kawai in the gold medal bout as she went down to the Rio Games’ gold medallist 0-10 in just 2 minutes and 44 seconds. Sakshi, who created history by becoming the first Indian wrestler to win an Olympics medal last year, could not counter the challenge from the strong Japanese grappler. She simply failed to match the agility and speed of her rival.

Competing for the first time in the 60kg category, Sakshi hardly broke a sweat on her way to the final. She got the better of Nabira Esenbaeva of Uzbekistan 6-2 in the quarterfinals, and then defeated Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym Kassymova 15-3 in the semis. “Kawai is a very experienced wrestler and an Olympics gold medallist. It was a really good learning experience for me. I am happy to have bagged a silver after returning to action after Rio and marriage,” Sakshi said after the medal ceremony.

Vinesh fights hard 

Vinesh, who also made a comeback at the championship after a long injury lay-off, lagged behind from the very beginning against Japan’s Sae Nanjo, and ultimately went down 4-8. The Japanese girl took little time to assert her superiority, bagging four quick points by taking down Vinesh twice before earning another two to make it 6-0 at the break.

In the second half, Vinesh came back strongly and quickly took down the Japanese wrestler to win two points. Vinesh managed to get two more points but it was not enough in the end. The 22-year-old, earlier in the day, had posted comfortable victories during her quarterfinal and semifinal bouts.

Vinesh, who chose to fight in the 55kg category instead of her preferred 48kg or 53kg categories,  said she was happy to have finished with a silver in a higher weight category. “Competing in the 55kg category and winning a silver is satisfying. I am happy to be back on the mat,” said Vinesh, adding that she would go back to 48kg category.

Divya also lost to her Japanese opponent, Sara Dosho, the gold medallist at the Rio Games. A new girl on the block, Divya put up a fine show but she was pinned down by her rival in 4 minutes and 55 seconds. The Indian lost the gold medal bout 0-8 in a one-sided contest. — PTI