ASTANA: Young Antim Panghal signed off with a silver medal in her debut Asian Championships after going down to the formidable Akari Fujinami of Japan in the 53kg title clash while four other Indian wrestlers clinched bronze medals, in Astana on Wednesday.
Anshu Malik (57kg), Sonam Malik (62kg), Manisha (65kg) and Reetika (72kg) added to India's medal rush, winning their bronze medal bouts.
Panghal gave a good account of herself in tournament as she registered dominant wins to breeze into the summit clash. But Fujinami, the 2021 world champion and someone who has hardly lost a bout since she started competing at the senior level in 2020, put an end to her winning run. The 18-year-old Indian, competing in star Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat's weight class, lost by technical superiority to the Japanese grappler. The talented Anshu looked her formidable best as she won by technical superiority over Mongalian Erdenesuvd Bat Erdene to bag a bronze in the 57kg event. On the other hand, Sonam, who had lost in the quarter-final to Orkhon Purevdorj, bounced back into the competition after the Mongolian reached the final. She notched up a 5-1 win over China's Xiaojuan Luo in her bronze medal bout. Reetika too won be a similar margin against Uzbek Svetlana Oknazarova, while Manisha recorded a victory by fall win over Albina Kairgeldinova of Kazakhstan. Earlier Panghal, who last year became the first Indian woman wrestler to become U20 world champion, routed the 53kg field, not conceding a single point on the moves of her rivals. Agencies
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