2021 U23 World Wrestling Championships | Shivani Pawar settles for silver, Anju claims bronze
India’s Shivani Pawar settled for a silver medal in the women’s 50kg event at the ongoing U23 World Wrestling Championships, in Serbia, Belgrade, on Thursday. Meanwhile, Anju claimed a bronze medal in the 55kg event by virtue of technical superiority against Canada’s Virginie Kaze Gascon.
India’s Shivani Pawar, who climbed through the qualifiers and advanced to the main draw, lost to USA’s reigning junior world champion Emily King Shilson in the title clash of the women’s 53kg event. However, she claimed a silver medal and became only the seventh Indian to win a medal at the global event, even though no one has ever won gold.
Meanwhile, Anju, who was competing in the women’s 55kg event, secured a podium finish after a win over Canada’s Virginie Kaze Gascon in the bronze medal match. Apart from which, India’s Nisha will get a shot at the bronze medal in the 65kg third-place fixture against the winner of the repechage round, on Friday.
Two-time Asian champion Divya Kakran was ousted in the women’s 72kg qualifiers by Ukraine’s Anastasiya Alpyeyeva 3-10. But, with Anastasiya making it to the final, Divya will feature in the repechage rounds on Friday.
Finding themselves in a similar situation are Nitika and Radhika, who will feature in the repechage rounds of the 57kg and 62kg events respectively after their opponents reached the gold-medal bout. Both of the Indian wrestlers lost in the quarter-finals.
But, Monika (68kg) and Bipasha (76kg) lost their repechage matches. Monika narrowly lost to USA’s Alyvia Fiske, while Bipasha went down against Ecuador’s Genesis Valdez.