New Delhi, July 18:
Three Indian woman judokas won bronze medals in their respective categories at the recently- concluded Asian Junior Judo Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Preety, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, won the bronze in the below 44kg weight category while Delhi’s Pinckey Balhara won bronze in the below 52kg weight category.
In an intense preliminary round, which lasted nine minutes, Preety defeated Taipei’s Tsai-Chi Cho but lost the semifinal to Uzbekistan’s Gulnur Muratbaeva in a mere 21 seconds.
In the bronze medal play-off, she outplayed Macau’s I Cheng Lei in under two minutes.
After winning her two preliminary rounds, Balhara lost her semifinal to Lin Hsuan HSU of Taipei but managed to beat South Korea’s Nayeong Song in the third-place play-off.
Tulika Maan, who is also from Delhi, won a bronze in the above 78kg weight category. She lost her preliminary round to Taipei’s Ling Fang Chang but bounced back with a win over Mongolia’s Baljinnyam in the Repechage round.
In the third-place bout she emerged winner against another Mongolian Serjmyadag Shurenchimeg.
Maan had also competed in the Senior Asian Judo Championships held in May 2017 in Hong Kong, where she had finished seventh. (PTI)