Astana, Oct 27 Indian women’s wrestling broke new ground at the World Championships on Tuesday, with Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi storming into the gold medal bouts to ensure that two women’s grapplers from the country will fight for the world title for the first time at the same edition of the premier event.
While 18-year-old Kajal pulled off a stunning 10-7 comeback win over seasoned Kyrgyzstan wrestler Aiperi Medet Kyzy in the 76kg semifinals, Neelam, 26, defeated Kazakhstan’s Zeinep Bayanova 7-3 in the 50kg category to set up a title clash with Japanese great Yui Susaki.
Kajal will fight it out with Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva in the final.
Until Tuesday, Anshu Malik, who won silver in 2021, was the only Indian woman to have reached a World Championships final, making the double breakthrough a landmark moment for the country.
Kajal’s remarkable victory was a display of strength, tactical intelligence and an unyielding fighting spirit as she refused to surrender despite trailing 1-7 in the first period.
Making her senior World Championships debut, two-time U20 world champion Kajal initially got on the scoreboard when Medet Kyzy stepped out of the mat, but the Kyrgyzstani soon took control, putting the Indian on the mat and coming close to securing a fall.
Kajal survived the pin attempt but found herself trailing 1-6.
The Indian camp challenged the two points awarded to Medet Kyzy for ‘expose’ move, but the challenge was unsuccessful, allowing the Kyrgyzstani to extend her lead to 7-1.
Rather than being overawed by her opponent’s reputation and the mounting deficit, Kajal launched a spirited counter-attack.
Using her considerable strength, she threw Medet Kyzy to the mat from the side to earn two points before executing another takedown to reduce the deficit to 5-7.
With the momentum beginning to shift, Indian coach Virender Dahiya urged her to keep pushing.
“You have lot of time, go for it,” Dahiya screamed from the corner.
Kajal responded with a double-leg attack, again initiated from the side, to take an 8-7 lead, completing a stunning turnaround.
As the bout approached its conclusion, Medet Kyzy attempted to push the Indian out of bounds.
Kajal, however, cleverly slipped behind her opponent and executed another takedown to seal a memorable 10-7 victory.
Overcome with emotion, Kajal fell face down on the mat, covered her face with her hands and began crying.
Medet Kyzy, meanwhile, lay flat on her back in disbelief after losing to the relatively inexperienced Indian.
Dahiya erupted in celebration, jumping into the air before punching the mat as Kajal’s extraordinary comeback secured her a place in the gold medal bout.
Neelam’s 7-3 win over Bayanova had already guaranteed her a shot at gold against Susaki, one of the most accomplished wrestlers.
In the morning session, Kajal produced a convincing 9-2 victory over Mongolia’s Davaanasan Enkh Amar after recording a ‘win by fall’ over Lithuania’s Kamile Griskiene Gaucaite.
Neelam blanked Belarus’ Natallia Varakina 6-0 in her pre-quarterfinal bout and advanced to the last four after top seed Russian Elizaveta Smirnova withdrew from the quarterfinals due to an injury.
Neelam stood out with her fast-paced attacks and strong defence when Varakina mounted a challenge.
Rajnita stays alive in bronze medal race
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Rajnita pulled off a notable upset in the women’s 65kg category, stunning 2024 World silver medallist Kateryna Zelenykh 8-6 in a qualification bout. She later lost her pre-quarterfinal bout by technical superiority to Moldova’s Irina Ringaci.
She is still alive in medal race. In her repechage bout, she will face Japan’s Nana Ikehata.
Neha Sharma advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s 57kg category with a hard-fought 4-2 win over Algeria’s Achouak Djamila Tekouk but went down 1-4 to Belarus’ Iryna Kurachkna in the next round and was eliminated.
India’s Greco-Roman wrestlers drew a blank with only Lalit (55kg) making the medal round while the others cut a sorry figure.
(PTI News)
