2021 U23 World Wrestling Championships | Shivani Pawar one win away from claiming gold medal
Indian wrestler Shivani Pawar qualified for the final of the women’s 50kg event at the 2021 U23 World Wrestling Championships, to secure the nation’s first medal in the event. Meanwhile, Anju will be featuring in the bronze medal match of the women’s 55kg event against Canada’s Virginie Kaze Gascon.
Shivani Pawar kick-started her U23 World Wrestling Championships campaign by having the better of Belarus’ European silver medallist Anastasiya Yanotava to sneak into the main draw of the meet. Following this, the 23-year old pinned down Ukraine’s Tetiana Profatilova in the quarter-finals.Â
Lastly, the Indian grappler defeated the reigning U23 European champion Mariia Tiumerekova of the Russian Wrestling Federation to storm into the gold-medal bout. Next up, Pawar is set to lock horns with USA’s Emily King Shilson for top honours, on Thursday.
On the other hand, Anju will have a shot at the bronze medal, when she takes on Canada’s Virginie Kaze Gascon in the women’s 55kg event. The Indian athlete defeated Poland’s Alicja Czyzowicz 9-0 and USA’s Alexandra Wray Hedrick 11-8 to make it to the semi-finals of the event before she was defeated by Viktoriia Vaulina.
Meanwhile, junior world silver medallist Bipasha had previously prevailed in the qualifiers to make it through to the main draw, lost in the quarter-finals to Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy. However, with Aiperi making it to the final, Bipasha will be handed an opportunity to claim a bronze medal in the repechage rounds.
Similarly, Monika, who was competing in the women’s 68kg event, will also feature in the repechage round, since her opponent Koumba Larroque also made it to the gold medal bout. Pushpa, however, could not get past the qualifiers in the 59kg category.