Wrestler Pooja Dhanda, fighting for bronze, lost against Pei Xingru of China, during the evening session of World Wrestling Championships on Thursday. She lost to Pei Xingru by a score of 3-5 in the 59kg category of wrestling. While Pooja was aiming to become the first Indian female wrestler to win multiple World Championship medals, she lost her bid in the race after losing this match. The challenge to procure a bronze medal came after Pooja Dhanda lost out in the Semi-Finals of the world-championship to Liubov Ovcharova of Russia in a surprisingly one-sided affair. Pooja struggled during the last 30 seconds of the game as she was trailing 1-3 when Xingru picked up two more points to take a 5-1 lead. Pooja fought the last bout excellently but only two points were added to India’s side.  

The Semi-Final Defeat 

The Russian wrestler, Liubov Ovcharova was aggressive from the start of the bout and won the game on the basis of technical superiority in less than 2 minutes 30 seconds. Dhanda who won the bronze medal at the last world wrestling championships in Budapest in 2018 took a shot at winning the bronze medal on Thursday. Earlier, Dhanda showed great character in the quarterfinals where she defeated Yuzuka Inagaki of Japan. Inagaki is the current Asian Champion and 2019 Junior World Champion. Despite her semi-final appearance, Dhanda will have to wait a little longer to book the ticket for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Unlike her team-mate, Vinesh Phoghat’s weight category, Dhanda’s weight category is not included in the Olympics.  

Read: Bajrang Punia punches ticket to Tokyo 2020, third Indian to qualify

Read: Vinesh Phogat wins Bronze in WWC, qualifies for Tokyo 2020 Olympics

A Medal-less day  

On Thursday, the world number one, Bajrang Punia and Ravi Kumar Dahiya also lost to their opponents. However, both of them have qualified for the Olympics because they have finished in the top six of their respective categories. Both of these players will also be fighting for a bronze medal tomorrow. Apart from them, Vinesh Phogat had also defeated World Silver medalist Sarah Hildebrandt by 8-2 and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 on Wednesday.  

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