Anshu Malik creates history, becomes first Indian woman wrestler to reach World Championship final
Oslo (Norway), Oct 6: Anshu Malik on Wednesday created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the World Championship final when she outclassed junior European champion Solomiia Vynnyk but Sarita Mor lost her semifinal and will fight for a bronze here.
The 19-year-old Anshu, the reigning Asian champion, controlled the semifinal from the beginning and won by technical superiority in the 57kg category to go into history books.
Only four Indian women wrestlers have won medals at the Worlds and all of them -- Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019) -- have clinched bronze.
"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 had lost her first round bout and also repechage round at the Tokyo Olympics.
Anshu also became only the sixth Indian ever to make the Worlds gold medal match after Bishambar Singh (1967), Sushil Kumar (2010), Amit Dahiya (2013), Bajrang Punia (2018) and Deepak Punia (2019).
India has only one world Champion in Sushil till date and Anshu can create another history on Thursday.
Anshu's win also ensured India's first medal from this edition of the event.
Anshu was clever with her moves. At least thrice, she effected take-down moves from the left of Vynnyk and finished the bout with an exposure move. The Nidani girl started competing in the senior circuit only from last year and has made a steady progress since then.
Earlier, she was hardly troubled by Kazakhstan's Nilufar Raimova, whom she beat by technical superiority and later outwitted Mongolia's Davaachimeg Erkhembayar 5-1 in the quarterfinals.
Seasoned Sarita Mor shocked defending champion Linda Morais 8-2 in her opening bout and beat Germany's Sandra Paruszewski 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
Up against the reigning European champion from Bulgaria Bilyana Zhivkova Duodova, Sarita fought her heart out but lost 0-3. She will now fight for a bronze.
The reigning Asian champion had a tough opening bout against the 2019 World champion from Canada but came out trumps with a tactical 8-2 win in the pre-quarterfinals.
A quick take-down move, followed by an expose together with some superb defence put Sarita 7-0 ahead by the time the first period was over.
The only scoring point she conceded was a take-down move in the second period. She did not let Linda play her game, keeping her in lock positions.
Later, the quarterfinal against Paruszewski turned out to be a tougher bout, in which the two wrestlers were largely restricted to standing fight which took a lot out of them.
There was only one point-scoring move, a take down effected by Sarita late in the match and that sealed the outcome.
In the 72kg, Divya Kakran stunned Kseniia Burakova with a 'win by fall' but lost by technical superiority to Japan's Under-23 world champion Masako Furuich.
The 2020 Asian champion Divya fought her heart out in both the bouts and wriggled out of difficult positions umpteen times but hurried moves and over aggression cost her the quarterfinal against the Japanese.
Meanwhile, Kiran (76kg) won her repechage round against Turkey's Aysegul Ozbege to reach bronze play-off but Pooja Jatt (53kg) lost her repechage by fall to Eucuador's Luisa Elizabeth Melendres.
Kiran will face 2020 African champion Samar Amer Ibrahim Hamza.
Ritu Malik (68kg) was blown away by Ukraine's Anastasiia Lavrenchuk in the qualification bout that lasted only 15 seconds. It seemed Ritu was carrying a knee injury.
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India & Israel elevate ties to special strategic partnership, vow to soon conclude free trade deal
Jerusalem (PTI): India and Israel on Thursday elevated their "time-tested" relationship to a special strategic partnership and agreed to soon firm up a "mutually beneficial" free trade deal even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly backed the Gaza peace initiative, asserting that humanity must never become a victim of conflict.
Following talks between Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, the two sides inked a plethora of agreements to expand cooperation in areas of trade, agriculture, energy, cyberspace and digital payment.
India and Israel also vowed to expand their already close defence partnership by working towards joint development and joint production of military hardware under the framework of the transfer of technologies.
In his media statement, Modi said India's security interest is linked to peace and stability in the Middle East, adding that New Delhi fully supports the Gaza Peace Initiative.
"India's stance is clear: humanity must never become a victim of conflict. A path to peace has been created through the Gaza Peace Plan. India has fully supported these efforts," he said.
"In the future as well, we will continue dialogue and cooperation with all countries," he said.
PM Modi landed in Israel on Wednesday on a two-day visit. It is his second visit to Israel in nine years.
In his remarks, the prime minister said India and Israel have a united view that there is no place for terrorism in the world and both sides stand shoulder-to-shoulder in countering terrorism and its supporters.
"Our relationship is founded on the strong bedrock of deep trust, shared democratic values, and human sensitivities. Our bond has stood the test of every trial of time," he said.
"Today, we have taken the historic decision to elevate our time-tested partnership to the status of a 'Special Strategic Partnership'," he said.
The prime minister also announced the establishment of an India-Israel critical and emerging technologies partnership to impart a new momentum for cooperation in areas of artificial intelligence, quantum, and critical minerals. "I am pleased that an agreement has been reached for the use of UPI in Israel," he said.
The prime minister, referring to the threat of terrorism, said India and Israel will continue to confront the menace unitedly.
"India and Israel are completely clear that there is no place for terrorism in the world. In any form, in any expression, terrorism cannot be accepted," he said.
"We have stood shoulder-to-shoulder in opposing terrorism and its supporters, and we will continue to do so," he added.
India and Israel also discussed the implementation of the India-Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and cooperation under the framework of I2U2 (India-Israel-UAE-USA).
