Vinesh Phogat (53kg) on Wednesday became the first Indian woman wrestler to seal her place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after securing a hard-fought victory against top seed Sarah Hilderbrandt.

Vinesh, had earlier lost to Mayu Mukaida of Japan on Tuesday. The defeat ended her hopes of winning gold at the ongoing Championship in Nur Sultan but she stayed in contention for a bronze medal.

The Asian Games gold medallist will next face Maria Prevolaraki from Greece in the bronze medal match later on in the day as she eyes her first medal at the World Championships.

Seema Bisla (50kg) has also registered a win in her repechage first match on criteria after she defeated Nigeria’s Miesinnei Mercy Genesis but the Indian was knocked out after she suffered a defeat against Ekaterina Poleshchuk.

Meanwhile, in the other results of the day, Kiran Bishnoi (76kg) was defeated by German Aline Rotter Focken while Sarita Mor (57kg) went down against European Championship bronze winner Anastasia Nichita in the qualification round.

Pooja Dhanda also booked her place in the semi-finals of the 59kg category after a come from behind win against Japanese Yuzuka Inagaki. She trailed 0-5 but bounced back to emerge victorious by 11-8.

(More to follow)