New Delhi: Indian grappler Amruta Pujari clinched a silver medal in the women’s 72 kg weight category at the ongoing Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, the United States, on Saturday.
Building on an impressive campaign highlighted by two consecutive pinfall victories in the earlier rounds, Amruta faced a tough challenge in the final against Ukraine’s Iryna Zablotska. Despite a spirited effort, the Indian wrestler went down 0-6 in the gold-medal bout, settling for a hard-fought second place on the podium.
Amruta’s silver brings India’s overall medal count at the Championships to three. She joins Komal, who secured a bronze medal in the women’s 59 kg division, and Vishvajit More, who earlier made history by claiming India’s first-ever silver medal in the Greco-Roman (55 kg) event at the U-23 level.
Amruta reached the women’s 72 kg final by pinning Wenjin Qiu in the semifinal to set up a summit clash with Ukraine’s Iryna Zablotska.
Earlier, Komal had opened India’s medal account in the women’s wrestling at the U23 World Championships, bagging a bronze medal in the 59 kg category.
Komal defeated Viktoriia Khusainova of Kazakhstan 7-2 to win the bronze medal bout. She began her campaign with a win over Canadian wrestler Ella Marie Finding before beating Madalina Prisacari of Moldova 8-3.
But the Indian fell 1-13 to Alina Filipovych of Ukraine. However, she redeemed herself in the bronze medal bout to avoid going home empty-handed.
Meanwhile, Sweety (53 kg) and Vaishnavi Patil (65 kg) remain in contention for a bronze medal through the repechage route after losing their respective quarterfinals.
In the 53 kg category, Sweety lost her quarterfinal 2-11 to Cristelle Rodriguez Dobler, who then went on to reach the final, allowing the Indian to revive her campaign through repechage.
Sweety will lock horns with Xiaotong Zeng of China for a place in the bronze medal bout later in the day.
Vaishnavi Patil, meanwhile, takes on Japan’s Haruka Kobaru after losing her quarterfinal to Russia’s Ekaterina Koshkina by technical superiority.
India could not field wrestlers in the women’s 50 kg, 55 kg, 57 kg and 62 kg categories and Greco-Roman style’s 60 kg, 77 kg, 82 kg, 97 kg and 130 kg weight divisions, as they were denied visas for being under-20 and having no full-time jobs.
–IANS–
