Asian Wrestling: Gold beckons Nisha Dahiya, teen Priya to fight for bronze
Astana (Kazakhstan), April 11
Making a memorable debut at the Asian Championships, Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya got herself in contention for a gold medal after edging past her opponents here today.
Nisha downed China’s Feng Zhou in the semifinals, which she won 7-6 after trailing 3-6 in the 68kg category bout.
This was after the 25-year-old emerged winner on criteria in the quarterfinals against Mongolia’s Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan. The scores were level 10-10 at the end of the bout but the Indian was declared the winner on criteria.
She will now clash with the World Championships silver medallist Ami
Ishii of Japan in the gold medal bout.
Neelam, the U-23 Asian Championships silver medallist, and the 18-year-old Priya, who is competing at the senior level for the first time, will fight for bronze medals in the 50kg and 76kg classes, respectively.
Neelam notched up a victory by fall against local favourite Ellada Makhyaddinova in the quarterfinals. However, she was defeated by Japan’s Remina Yoshimoto in the same manner in her semifinal.
The 2021 cadet world champion Priya, on the other hand, won her qualification round against Hui Tsz Chang of Chinese Taipei 2-1 before suffering a defeat by fall at the hands of Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy.
Neelam will take on China’s Ziqi Feng in the bronze medal bout, while Priya will clash with Mizuki Nagashima of Japan.
Meanwhile, Sito (50kg) and Sarita Mor (59kg), who is competing for the first time after being a part of the wrestlers’ protest against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, failed to enter the medal round.
While Sito made a first-round exit, losing to local Marina Sedneva, Sarita managed to win against Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu 4-1 and Japan’s Yui Sakano 6-1.
She, however, suffered a stunning defeat by fall against Chinese grappler Zhuomalaga in the third round to make an exit from the tournament where she has tasted considerable success over the years.
