AMMAN (JORDAN), Mar 28: Seasoned Indian wrestler Manisha Bhanwala kept herself in hunt for a gold medal at the Asian Championship by reaching the women’s 62kg final while Antim Panghal was left to fight for bronze after losing her semifinal here on Friday.
Manisha began with an easy technical superiority win over Kazakhstan’s Tynys Dubek and pinned Korea’s Hanbit Lee for another dominating win.
The semifinal was no different as she conceded only one point to eventually win 5-1 against Kalmira Bilimbek Kyzy.
Now Korea’s Ok J Kim stands between Manisha and her first-ever Asian Championship title.
The 20-year-old Panghal, competing in her first international event after a disappointing show at the Paris Olympics, beat China’s Jin Zhang in the 53kg quarterfinal but was no match for Japan’s Moe Kiyooka, who won by technical superiority.
In the opening three-minute period Panghal, India’s first U20 world champion, did not score any point but conceded one. In the second period she tried hard but Kiyooka was too strong in her defence.
Panghal was put on clock and in those 30 seconds, the Japanese made two moves to take a commanding 5-0 lead. Panghal then lost a point on passivity.
The Japanese was unstoppable as she took Panghal down and then flipped her to end the contest.
Neha Sharma (57kg), Monika (65kg) and Jyoti Beriwal (72kg) could not reach the medal rounds.
India have so far won six medals through four women and two Greco Roman wrestlers in the tournament.
The men’s freestyle competition will begin on Saturday. (PTI)
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