Xtra Time Web Desk: Indian wrestler Bipasha settled for silver in the 76 kg category at the Wrestling Junior World Championships on Thursday. She lost her gold medal match to Kylie Renee Welker of USA by technical superiority. Bipasha was outclassed by Kylie 10-0 in one minute and 25 seconds of the final.
Simran (50kg) and Sito (55kg) won bronze medals to add to India’s tally but Arju forfeited her 68kg bronze play-off due to injury. Simran had a come-from-behind 7-3 win over Belarus’ Natallia Varakina, who finished the first period with a 3-0 lead but could not get a single point in the second. Sito was dominant in her 55kg bronze play-off as she secured the medal with a technical superiority win over Turkey’s Melda Derenkci.
Bhateri also made her way into the 65kg final while Saneh will fight for bronze after losing her 62kg semifinal.
Sanju emerged star of the day for India. She may not look athletic but was quick with her moves and reflexes as she beat Germany’s Lusia Schrel 5-2 and then erased a 0-3 deficit to edge past Croatia’s Iva Geric 4-3 in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinal too she was down 0-5 but relied on her supreme stamina to win 8-5 against Azerbaijan’s Birgul Soltanova, who lost a bit of steam towards the end and blew away her lead. She will fight for gold against Russia’s Alina Kasabieva.
Also moving to the final was Bhateri, who had just two bouts to win in 65kg to make the final. Both her bouts were low-scoring as she just about managed to get the points that were enough to win. She beat Tunisia’s Jlassi Khadija and Romania’s Amina Roxana Capezan.