World Wrestling Championships 2022: Vinesh Phogat wins bronze medal, creates special record

Vinesh Phogat has won the seventh bronze medal of her career and the 16th medal across colours. It also happens to be her second World Wrestling Championships medal, becoming the first Indian woman to do so.

On Wednesday, female wrestler Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian woman to win multiple medals at the World Wrestling Championships, clinching a bronze in the 53kg category by conquering Sweden's Emma Jonna Malmgren in Belgrade. The 28-year-old had also won a bronze in the 2019 edition in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. It happened to be an excellent response for Vinesh following her defeat in the opening round, as she defeated Malmgren 8-0 in the bronze medal round. She qualified for the bronze play-off via repechage following her loss to Mongolia's Khulan Batkhuyag, a silver medallist in the 2022 Asian Championships, in her opening fight on Tuesday.

Vinesh, a triple Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold medalist, qualified for the repechage round after Batkhuyag sealed her final berth. In the repechage, Vinesh defeated Kazakhstan's Zhuldyz Eshimova via pinfall (4-0), while in the next bout, an injury to Azerbaijan's Leyla Gurbanova allowed her to progress to the bronze medal round.

In the women's 57kg, 2021 bronze medalist Sarita Mor went on to win her opening contest 4-2 against U-23 bronze medalist Canada's Hannah Taylor. However, she then lost to Poland's Anhelina Lysak 0-7. Later, Mansi Ahlawat lost in the 59kg quarterfinal to Poland's Jowita Maria Wrzesien 3-5. The Indian could not make it to the repechage after Jowita's loss in the semis.

In 68kg, Nisha Dahiya battled for the bronze on Thursday. She qualified for the semis after defeating Bulgaria's Sofiya Georgieva 11-0. However, she later lost 4-5 to reigning junior world champion Japan's Ami Ishii in the semis. While Nisha led 2-0 and then 4-3, her Japanese rival unseated her in the closing seconds. Meanwhile, Reetika lost 2-6 in the opening round to France's Kendra Augustine Jocelyne Dacher in the 72kg fight.

(With inputs from PTI)