New Delhi, October 07, 2021: Young Anshu Malik (57kg) created history on Wednesday by becoming the first-ever Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the World Championships. She outclassed Ukrainian junior European champion Solomiia Vynnyk 11-0 on technical superiority in the semifinal in Oslo.
The girl from Nidani in Haryana’s Jind district will now be up against a formidable opponent — 2016 Rio Olympics champion (53kg), USA’s Helen Louise Maroulis. At the Tokyo Games, the American had settled for a bronze in the 57kg. Maroulis is also a two-time world champion. The final bout is scheduled for Thursday evening.
It could have been double delight for the India at the Nye Jordal Amfi arena but Sarita Mor, the reigning Asian champion, lost her semifinal bout against Bulgaria’s Bilyana Zhivkova Duodova on points in the 59kg weight division.
Sarita, 25, who had earlier stunned defending champion, Canada’s Linda Morais 8-2, fought valiantly against Duodova in both periods but failed to cross the finishing line.The Sonepat girl, who was a kabaddi player in her childhood days, will now fight in the bronze playoff on Thursday.
Anshu, 20, now has the opportunity to rewrite history books as a win against Maroulis can give Indian wrestling only its second world champion, after Sushil Kumar who won a gold in Moscow in 2010. Bajrang Punia had come close to matching Sushil’s record but lost his finalat the 2018 Worlds to settle for silver.
Previously, only four Indian women wrestlers have managed to secure medals at the Worlds and all of them settled for the bronze – Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019).
Anshu’s long-serving coach, Jagdish Sheoran, who trains her at the Chaudhary Bharat Singh Memorial Sports School in Nidani, told TOI that her ward has been competing at the Worlds with an elbow injury which she had sustained during the selection trials on August 30. “Anshu has an injury to her left elbow and hasn’t been competing to her full potential in the championships. She suffered the injury in her final bout during the World Championships trials in Delhi and it took Anshu a week to start training again at my academy. We took her to a doctor who advised her complete rest for one week. After that, she worked only on strengthening her legs, giving the elbow the desired rest.
“It’s important to keep her injury-free keeping the senior Nationals next month in mind and then the Commonwealth and Asian Games next year,” Sheoran added.
“Against Vynnyk, Anshu fought a well-planned bout and effected intelligent takedowns in both periods. Her technique was good and she attacked brilliantly, while equally focusing on her defense,” Sheoran explained.
According to the reports published in timesofindia.indiatimes.com Anshu had earlier defeated Kazakhstan’s Nilufar Raimova by technical superiority and later outclassed Mongolia’s Davaachimeg Erkhembayar 5-1 in the quarterfinals. Sarita, on the other hand, had created a major upset after defeating Morais in her pre-quarters before staving off a tough challenge against Germany’s Sandra Paruszewski. However, she ran out of steam in the semis against Duodova.
