Wrestling: Sakshi Malik stunned, Vinesh Phogat flops as women fail too

Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik crashed out in the first round while compatriot Vinesh Phogat's campaign also ended in a whimper as Indian grapplers continued with dismal show at World Wrestling Championships

India wrestlers Sakshi Malik

Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik crashed out in the first round while compatriot Vinesh Phogat's campaign also ended in a whimper as Indian grapplers continued with dismal show at World Wrestling Championships.

After three listless days, the onus was on Sakshi and Vinesh to end India's medal drought but both failed to live up to the expectations.

Sakshi and Vinesh went down in their respective Round of 16 bouts.

Vinesh Phogat

Sakshi was stunned by Luisa Niemesch of Germany 1-3 in 60kg, while two-time junior world champion Victoria Anthony of USA got a fall over Vinesh Phogat (48kg). It was a humiliating defeat for Vinesh, who got injured during the Rio Olympics.

The other Indians in the fray — Sheetal Tomar (53kg) and Navjot Kaur (69kg) — also bowed out with contrasting performances. Navjot was beaten 5-10 by Mongolia's Ochirbat Nasanburmaa in 69kg, but surprisingly lesser-known Sheetal emerged as the lone Indian woman wrestler to win her Round of 16 bout when he got the better of Jessica Mcbain of Australia 10-0 in 53kg. However, Sheetal could not maintain her rhythm and lost the quarterfinals against Estera Dobre of Romania, going down 2-4.

Now India's only hope are the men's freestyle wrestlers, especially Asian champion Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Olympian Sandeep Tomar (57kg) on the last two remaining days of the tournament.

A 24-member Indian contingent had trained at de Bercy's wrestling centre in Boulevard de Bercy borough here since August 6 but the grapplers do not seem to have benefitted much by that training.

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