Vinesh Phogat will have another shot at a World Wrestling Championships bronze medal as she became active via the repechage round on Wednesday after a disappointing defeat in the first round against Mongolia’s Khulan Batkhuyag 0-7 on Tuesday.
Vinesh, fresh from winning her third Commonwealth Games gold medal in Birmingham, was thrown down by her Mongolian opponent in the final seconds of her bout, losing 0-7.
Asian Championships silver medallist Batkhuyag took a 3-0 lead in the first period before throwing the former world bronze medallist onto the mat in the final seconds to win four points and notch a big win. Thankfully for the Indian, she went all the way to the final.
Vinesh will take on Kazakhstan’s Zhuldyz Eshimova in the first round of repechage on Wednesday.
Antim Panghal, who won India’s first U20 World Championships gold last month and was beaten by Vinesh in the selection trials, had beaten Batkhuyag in the first round of the U-23 Asian meet in June.
Vinesh was a strong medal favourite in a favourable draw which had seen reigning world champion Akari Fujinami withdraw due to an injury.
In a disappointing start to the women’s wresting event, Indian wrestlers were knocked out of medal contention in the 50kg, 55kg, 62kg, 65kg and 76kg events.
Asian Championship 55kg bronze medalist Sushma Shokeen lost in the first round of repechage to Moldova’s Mariana Dragutan despite holding a 8-2 lead at one stage. Shokeen had earlier lost to eventual finalist Oleksandra Khomenets of Ukraine in the quarterfinal.
In the 50kg event, Neelam lost in the round of 16 to two-time world silver medallist Emilia Alina Vuc of Romania via technical superiority
Sonam lost in the round of 16 in the 62kg event while Shafali and Priyanka lost in the qualifiers of the 65kg and 76kg events respectively. All of them are out of contention for a medal.
On Wednesday, Sarita Mor (57kg), Mansi Ahlawat (59kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg) and Reetika (72kg) will be in action in their events.