India enjoyed a fruitful day at the Wrestling U-23 World Championships as Radhika (62kg), Nisha Dahiya (65kg) and Divya Kakran (72kg) won bronze medals in the women’s freestyle event on Friday.
However, there was disappointment in the men’s 57 kg category, as Saurabh Igave lost out in the semi-finals.
Radhika who had entered the bronze medal bout through repechage rode on a strong half performance, holding off a late comeback from Italy’s Aurora Campagna to clinch bronze medal with a 6-4 win.
Dahiya then doubled India’s joy as she overcame the disappointment of defeat in the semi-finals to produce a dominant performance to defeat Elma Zeidlere of Latvia 10-0 and win by technical superiority.
Kakran then made it a perfect evening for Indian women in Belgrade as she pinned USA’s Kayla Marano in a dominant performance to clinch the U-23 Worlds bronze.
Igave, though endured a heartbreaking loss in the men’s 57kg semi-finals as he lost an absolutely thrilling bout 10-10 against Aliabbas Rzazade. He fought back brilliantly from 6-10 down at the start of the second period to level scores but lost on criteria.
India have already won a silver and bronze and the U-23 World Championship. Shivani Pawar became the third Indian woman to win the U23 Wrestling World Championship silver medal on Thursday before Anju won the 55kg bronze medal.
India have won a total of five medals at the 2021 U-23 World Championships so far.