Sarita Mor pulled off the upset of the day at the selection trials for World Championships by beating 2018 World Championship bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda 2-1 in the final in Lucknow.
After a tough bout against former cadet world champion and junior Asian champion Anshu Malik, Pooja ran out of attacks in the final bout to lose her spot in the the team that will travel to Kazakhstan.
There were no surprises in the five other weight categories for the event in Nur Sultan, which will be held between September 14-22 with Sarita in 57kg, Seema Bisla in 50 kg, Vinesh Phogat in 53 kg, Sakshi Malik in 62 kg, Divya Kakran in 68 kg, and Kiran Godara in 76 kg.
Seema was dominant in both her bouts of the day to earn the 50 kg spot. She defeated Nirmala Devi 9-2 in the final. Vinesh had to wrestle only once to earn book her place in the Worlds.
Only three wrestlers had entered the 53 kg with Vinesh already in the final. Pinki defeated Pooja Ghalawat via pin to enter the final against Vinesh but the Asian Games champion was at the top of her game as she won the final 9-0.
Malik also showed her class in the 62 kg category, winning both her bouts of the day via technical superiority. After beating Anita 11-0 in semi-final, she handed Reshma Mane 13-2 drubbing in the final. Mane had impressive run until the final. She defeated national champion Anita on her way to the summit clash.
Divya began as favourite in the category but was tested by Navjot Kaur in the 68 kg final, where she needed to fend off a series of attacks from the latter to hang on to a 6-3 win. This will be Divya’s first senior World Championship.
Divya defeated U23 Asian champion Naina in her first bout before overcoming Navjot, who had defeated former Asian Games silver medallist Geetika Jakhar.
The 76 kg category saw a tough battle with four former national champions eyeing a spot on the team. But it was Kiran who defeated Gursharanpreet Kaur 6-4 in the final to book her ticket. Kiran was leading 3-0 before Gursharanpreet made it 3-2. But Kiran waited for the right moment to counter and secure her spot in the Championships.
