Oslo: Anshu Malik made history on Wednesday by defeating junior European champion Solomiia Vynnyk to advance to the World Championship final at Oslo. The 19-year-old-Indian athlete, the defending Asian champion, controlled the semifinal from the start and triumphed by technical superiority in the 57kg category to go down in history.
Only five Indian women wrestlers have earned medals in the World Championships, and all of them have won bronze: Alka Tomar (2006), Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018), and Vinesh Phogat (2019).
“It’s extremely satisfying. I am so happy. It feels so good. What I could not do at the Tokyo Games I did that here. I fought each and every bout as my last bout,” said Anshu after making the final. “The month after the Tokyo Games was very tough. I could not perform as I had wanted at the Games. I suffered an injury (elbow) and can’t explain how much pain I endured one month before the World championship. “I trained hard for this, I wanted to give my 100 per cent and will fight final like my last bout,” she said.
Anshu MALIK 🇮🇳 made HERstory with her semifinal win and became the first Indian woman to reach a world gold-medal match. #WrestleOslo pic.twitter.com/ON3Vk09ZSq
— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) October 6, 2021
Anshu’s victory also ensured India’s first medal from this year’s competition. Meanwhile, Kiran (76kg) won her repechage round against Turkey’s Aysegul Ozbege in the morning session to get to the bronze play-off but was unable to convert the opportunity into a medal after falling 1-2 to 2020 African champion Samar Hamza.
Anshu MALIK 🇮🇳 speaks after becoming India’s first-ever WW finalist at senior World Championships #WrestleOslo pic.twitter.com/ZZvgfVGp3o
— United World Wrestling (@wrestling) October 6, 2021
Anshu’s movements were flawless. She effected take-down moves from Vynnyk’s left at least three times and concluded the fight with an exposure move. The Nidani girl entered the senior circuit only last year and has made good improvement since then. Previously, she had little issue with Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova, whom she defeated by technical superiority, and then outwitted Mongolia’s Davaachimeg Erkhembayar 5-1 in the quarterfinals.
