Nisha Dahiya books fifth Olympic quota place for India in wrestling

While Antim Panghal obtained an Olympic quota in 53kg category with a bronze-medal finish at the World Championships last year, Vinesh Phogat 50kg, Anshu Malik 57kg and Reetika Hooda 76kg clinched the spots for the country at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in March.Indian Greco-roman grapplers had failed to impress on the opening day of the Qualifiers here on Thursday, bowing out in the preliminary rounds in all six weight categories.

A day after all six Greco-roman wrestlers came up with forgettable performances, Nisha Dahiya kept India's hopes of a fifth Paris Games quota place alive by moving into the semifinals at the World Olympic Games Qualifier here on Friday.

The 68kg grappler, a World U-23 bronze medallist and Asian Championships silver-medal winner last year, defeated Belarusian teenager Alina Shauchuk, competing as an independent athlete, on points 3-0 to secure a place in the quarterfinal.

Nisha, 25, then overcame the challenge of ninth-ranked wrestler from the Czech Republic Adela Hanzlickova, a multiple European Championships medallist, on points 7-4 to book a place in the semifinal against Romania's Alexandra Anghel, ranked 58th.

If Nisha beats the Romanian later in the day, she will become the country's fifth female grappler to book a Paris berth.

Even if she loses later on Friday, Nisha can still earn a Paris berth as a third quota is given to the wrestler who emerges winner in the bout between the two bronze medallists.

In a bout lasting the full distance, Nisha took a quick 3-1 lead in the first round of three minutes and despite a fight-back by Adela, managed to win with ease.

However, Mansi (62kg) came up against a far superior opponent in eighth-ranked Belarusian opponent Veranika Ivanova, who achieved a victory by fall in the pre-quarterfinal round with 25 seconds remaining on the timer.

Mansi can still secure a place in the bronze-medal round through the repechage route and hope to win an Olympic quota but for that Veranika will have to enter the final.

Four Indian women wrestlers have already secured Paris berths. While Antim Panghal obtained an Olympic quota in 53kg category with a bronze-medal finish at the World Championships last year, Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Anshu Malik (57kg) and Reetika Hooda (76kg) clinched the spots for the country at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in March.

Indian Greco-roman grapplers had failed to impress on the opening day of the Qualifiers here on Thursday, bowing out in the preliminary rounds in all six weight categories. Sumit (60kg), Ashu (67kg), Vikas (77kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg), Nitesh (97kg) and Naveen (130kg) had all lost their bouts.

Indian men's freestyle grapplers will hope to offset the below-par showing of their Greco-roman compatriots when they step on the mat on Saturday.

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