Astana, Oct 28 India will have to wait for its first woman world wrestling champion after Neelam Sirohi and Kajal Dhochak lost their respective finals at the World Championships here on Wednesday, though the two silver medals marked a historic first for the country.
For the first time, India had two women wrestlers competing in the gold medal bouts at the same edition of the World Championships.
Sushil Kumar is the only wrestler from India to win a world title back in 2010.
Neelam was the first Indian to take the mat, facing Japanese legend Yui Susaki in the women’s 50kg final. Susaki, a four-time world champion, had not conceded a point en route to the title bout.
Beating the Japanese was always going to be a Herculean task, given her extraordinary record of just one defeat in an illustrious career.
Neelam, however, held her own for nearly three minutes before Susaki found an opening.
There was little action in the initial two minutes as Neelam kept the Japanese at bay. But once Susaki found her range, she launched a left-leg attack to secure a takedown before pinning the Indian to the mat to seal the gold medal.
The victory took Susaki’s world title tally to five and further enhanced her reputation of one of the most dominant wrestlers of her times.
Kajal, meanwhile, came agonisingly close to pulling off an upset in the women’s 76kg final against Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva, a three-time European champion.
The contest was closely fought, with neither wrestler managing to establish clear dominance in the opening exchanges. Kajal conceded the first points after stepping out and being penalised for passivity, trailing 0-2.
The Indian responded with a push-out throw towards the end of the first period to level the score at 2-2.
The second period saw both wrestlers find their attacking rhythm. Alpyeyeva scored with a double-leg attack, but Kajal responded with one of her own, leaving the Ukrainian with a bleeding nose as the score moved to 4-4. Kajal held the advantage on criteria, having scored the last point.
With just 20 seconds remaining, Alpyeyeva struck a decisive takedown and added two more points to move ahead.
Kajal summoned her remaining strength to score a two-point takedown with five seconds left and launched a desperate attempt to turn the contest around, but the Ukrainian held firm to secure an 8-6 victory.
Kajal, a two-time U20 world champion, thus had to settle for silver after a stirring run to the final, highlighted by her sensational 10-7 comeback win over Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy in the semifinals, where she had trailed 1-7.
Despite the heartbreak in the finals, the two medals represent a significant milestone for Indian women’s wrestling.
Before this edition, only Anshu Malik had reached a senior World Championships final.
Sleeping will be tough tonight
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India chief women’s coach Virender Dahiya was naturally disappointed.
“Kajal was very close to get that elusive gold. She just needed to hold off 20 seconds. It was just lack of experience at this level. We were really close, it will be difficult to sleep tonight,” Dahiya told PTI.
“She is just a kid, and very sad now. We knew that it will be tough for Neelam but Kajal really had a great chance. This competition has given her experience. I am sure we will have more medals tomorrow. Both Manisha and Ahilya are capable of winning medals.”
Kajal’s family was also obviously disappointed and did not talk.
Disappointing opening session
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Earlier in the day, three Indians lost their pre-quarterfinal bouts, while one suffered defeat in the qualification round.
Rajnita’s campaign in the women’s 65kg category ended after she lost 2-6 to Japan’s Nana Ikehata in the repechage round. The Indian fought hard but it was the experience of the Japanese which got her the crucial win.
The most surprising setback came in the 53kg category, where Nishu, after opening her campaign with a confident ‘victory by fall’ over Morocco’s Sabah Kaneb, went down 0-8 to Romania’s Andreea Beatrice Ana in the pre-quarterfinals.
Ana was quick with her counter-attacks and never allowed the Indian to execute a successful offensive move, securing a comprehensive victory.
Srishti also made a promising start in the women’s 68kg category, blanking Uzbekistan’s Firuza Esenbaeva 8-0 in her opening bout.
But she failed to carry the momentum into the pre-quarterfinals, losing 1-5 to Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova.
The first period saw little attacking action, with both wrestlers largely engaged in standing position. Zhumanazarova took the lead through a passivity point and carried it into the break.
Srishti attempted a single-leg attack in the second period, but Zhumanazarova countered swiftly, converting the move into a two-point takedown to consolidate her advantage and seal the win.
Srishti can still reach the medal round if she wins her repechage round.
In the women’s 62kg category, Neha Sangwan was overwhelmed by Russian top seed Amina Tandelova, who needed just 76 seconds to register a dominant victory.
Tandelova opened with a lightening-quick takedown before executing consecutive gut wrenches and two leg-lace rolls to finish the bout in a little over a minute.
Tanu Sharma lost to Poland’s Wiktoria Choluj 2-9 in the qualification round. However, she stays alive in the bronze medal race through repechage route as Choluj qualified for the gold medal bout.
(PTI News)
