Anju, Harshita reach final, Sarita Mor eliminated from Asian Championships

Anju, Harshita reach final, Sarita Mor eliminated from Asian Championships

Railways wrestler Anju, who had outclassed Vinesh Phogat in the recent selection trials, and Harshita put up a dominant show to reach the gold medal bouts in their respective categories at the Asian Championships, but Sarita Mor was eliminated after a shock defeat in her opening round here Sunday.

Competing in a highly competitive 53kg weight class category, Anju logged back-to-back wins by technical superiority against Philippines' Aliah Rose Gavalez and Sri Lanka's Nethmi Ahinsa Fernando.

She faced some resistance from China's Chun Lei before prevailing 9-6 in the semifinal.

In the final, Anju will face Korea's Ji Hyang Kim.

Harshita conceded just three points en route the final, outclassing Uzbekistan's Ozoda Zaripboeva by technical superiority (13-3) and beating Kazakhstan's Anastassiya Panassovich 5-0.

She will fight it out with China's Qian Jiang in the final.

However, a big shock was in store for the Indian squad as 2021 World Championship medallist Sarita lost her quarterfinal bout 4-8 to Mongolia's Gantuya Enkhbat.

The 28-year-old was a firm medal favourite in this category. Later Enkhbat lost her semifinal, closing the repechage route for the Indian.

Manisha Bhanwala (62kg) and Antim Kundu (65kg) will contest for bronze medals.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)