Wrestling World Championships | Sakshi Malik, Ritu Malik and Pooja Dhanda in line for bronze
Indian female wrestling trio of Sakshi Malik, Ritu Mailk and Pooja Dhanda are all in contention for a bronze medal at the ongoing Wrestling World Championships being held in Budapest, Hungary. All the three Indian wrestlers now need three wins each to land on the podium via repechage.
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
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
