Asian Wrestling Championships: Sakshi Malik settles for silver, loses against Olympic gold medallist

New Delhi, May 12: Rio Olympic Games bronze medallist Sakshi Malik settled for a silver medal in the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships here on Friday (May 12).

Vinesh Phogat bags silver, Ritu Phogat settles for bronze

The Rohtak-girl was defeated by Olympic gold medallist Japan's Risako Kawai 0-10 in the finals of the 60 kg weight category.

Many hopes of a gold were pinned on Sakshi. But the Indian came a cropper in the final as Rio Olympics gold medallist Kawai hardly broke sweat as she outplayed Sakshi 10-0.

Competing for the first time in women's 60kg category after moving up the weight division from 58kg, Sakshi never looked in contention. Right from the start, the Japanese player took a solid 4-0 lead by throwing the Indian to the edge of the mat and then a few seconds later she made it 10-0 to claim the gold medal.

'It was a bad day, but I hope I will do better in



future tournaments,' Sakshi said after the match.

The bronze medal went to Avaulum Kassvmova of Kazakhistan, who defeated Uzbekistan's Nabira Esenbaeva 13-3.

In the 69kg category, Divya lost to Sara Dosho 0-8. It was a fine start by the promising Indian grappler but after a few seconds Divya gave away two points and Doshu made it 4-0 within a minute.

The next three minutes saw numerous attacks by Divya. The Indian grappler tried many leg attacks but she failed. Witnessing that, the Japanese player started counter-attacks and as a result Dosho bagged two more points to make it 6-0 in first four minutes.

Soon the Japanese took two more points when she pinned down Divya to clinch the gold.

In women's 48kg category, Ritu Phogat settled for the bronze medal in the 48kg category. Ritu got a walkover by China's Yanan Sun, who pulled out of the match owing to an injury.