Pinki to fight for bronze medal at World Wrestling Championships

The young wrestler lost her semi-finals bout to a German opponent.

India's Pinki will play for a bronze medal after losing a nail-biting semi-final match against Germany's Nina Hemmer on Day 3 of the ongoing World Wrestling Championships in Oslo, Norway. Nina defeated the Indian wrestler 8-6 to reach the final of the tournament.

Both the wrestlers gave their all in a close bout, but it was the German who prevailed in the end. Pinki started the day brightly and crushed two top wrestlers en route to a bronze medal match. Fighting in the 55kg category, she beat South Korea's Kim Soy-eon 5-0 in the qualification round. Pinki continued her good form in the quarterfinal bout, as she defeated Kazakhstan's Aisha Ualishan 4-1 after a slow start.

She will now fight either Jeena Burkert of the USA or Andreea Beatrice of Romania for a bronze medal. The match will take place on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Rohit (65 kg) lost a chance to win a bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships. The Indian wrestler went down 4-10 against Mongolia's Tulga Ochir in the bronze medal bout.

Disappointing performances from male wrestlers

In the 70kg freestyle category, Sushil lost to Zurabi Iakobishvili of Georgia. The Indian wrestler started the match brightly, but soon fell to the superiority of his opponent. Zurabi won the match by a scoreline of 5-2 to progress further in the World Wrestling Championships. Satywart Kadian met the same fate in the qualification round of the 97kg category against South Korea's Seo Min-won. Both the wrestlers fought bravely and scored 6-6 points in the match. However, Seo reached the pre-quarterfinals, having scored a bigger points move.

Sangeeta's unsatisfactory comeback

Sangeeta, who is making a comeback on the wrestling mat after three long years owing to her knee issues, failed to make the most of the opportunity. The Indian wrestler started the day brightly in the 62kg category, as she defeated Lusia Niemesch of Germany 5-2 in a one-sided encounter.

However, she lost her pre-quarterfinal match 4-6 against Brazil's Lais Nunes de Oliveira to crash out of the World Wrestling Championships. Sangeeta looked in good touch at the start of the match and put in some good double leg attacks. However, the Brazilian was quick to respond and soon took a lead to win the match. The Indian also looked exhausted at the end of an exciting encounter.

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