Wrestling World Championships | Sakshi Malik, Ritu Malik and Pooja Dhanda in line for bronze

In spite of early defeats, the Indian trio of Sakshi Malik, Ritu Malik and Pooja Dhanda remain in contention for a medal as the repechage rounds at the World Wrestling Championships in Hungary begin today. Ritu, Sakshi and Pooja all stand to bag a bronze as the superior opponents who defeated them have made it to the finals which opened the repechage doors for the Indian girls.

Ritu Malik, who had beaten the famous Geeta Phogat in the trials ahead of the competition, outplayed Bulgaria’s Sofiya Hristova Georgieva 9-8 in the repechage round despite lagging behind twice in what was an exciting bout. Meanwhile, CWG silver medallist Pooja Dhanda lost 3-4 to China’s Ningning Rong in the quarter-finals of the 57kg event in Budapest.

It was yet another disappointment for Olympic medallist Sakshi, who was outclassed 2-16 by Japan's Yukako Kawai, a two-time World Cup gold winner in the 62kg category. The Indian wrestlers unfortunate form on the mat continued having previously won a bronze in at the 2018 Gold Coast CWG after which she failed to reach the medal round at last month’s Asian Games in Jakarta. Malik will go up against either Aminat Oluwafumilayo Adeniyi or Marianna Sastin in the repechage round.

Meanwhile, In the 50kg category, Ritu Phogat, who replaced her injured cousin Vinesh Phogat, made an impressive start in the tournament as she won the pre-quarterfinal against Thi Yuan Nguyen by technical superiority but lost the quarter-final by fall to Yui Susaki, the 2017 world champion in 48kg category.