New Delhi: Young Divya Kakran won silver medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships on Friday to cap a brilliant day for India. After an impressive run to the finals, Divya was no match for Japan’s Sara Dosho in the final, losing by a technical fall.
Japan’s Sara Dosho was a formidable opponent, winning Asian Wrestling Championship Gold in 2014 and 2016 and is also the reigning the Olympic gold medallist from Rio 2016 in the 69 kg category.
19-year old Divya had been at an international tournament in Bulgaria recently but none as big as the Asian Wrestling Championships. The youngster from Salawa in Uttar Pradesh showed no sign of nerves though as she breezed through her first two bouts.
In an ultra-competitive field, she drew Chen-Chi Huang first up in the quarterfinals of the 69 kg category in the women’s freestyle section. Divya’s opponent from Chinese Taipei proved to be as tough as nails as the quarterfinal proved to be a close affair.
Divya would have been happy to get her first match out of the way as a fall gave her a close 2-0 victory as she progressed to the semifinals. She looked way more confident and aggressive in the semifinals as she was all over her opponent Hyeonyeong Park of South Korea within a matter of seconds.
The Indian did not give the Korean any room to manouevre as she pinned her repeatedly in the opening three-minute period, racing into a 8-0 lead and was two points away from a technical victory. In the second period, Park came back strongly to claw the score back to 8-4 but Divya closed out the match with two more quick pins to make it 12-4 and advance to the finals against Dosho.
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