Navjot Kaur on Friday reached the finals of the 65 kg competition at the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan after defeating Mongolia’s Tsevegmed Enkhbayar 2-1 in the semifinals.
The Punjabi wrestler started slowly, losing her first group stage match but regained some momentum in winning her next group encounter and then went on to win the semifinals against her Mongolian opponent.
Kaur lost her opener narrowly to Japan’s Miyu Imai 4-4 in her first match yesterday in Bishkek. She came back strongly though in her next match, overpowering her opponent, Bakhtigul Baltaniazova of Uzbekistan.
The Uzbeki wrestler stood no chance as Kaur steamrolled her way to victory, as the match was stopped with 4 minutes and 2 seconds on the clock, with the Indian leading 10-0.
In the semis, her match went the whole distance, but she overcame Enkhbayar to set up a final clash against Imai. It won’t be easy for Kaur, having lost to the Japanese in the group stages.
Her progress also confirms another medal for India, taking the country’s tally to four medals overall after Vinesh Phogat had earned a silver in the 50 kg category on Thursday. Greco-Roman wrestlers Harpreet Singh and Rajender Kumar clinched bronze in their respective categories earlier.
Update
Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik is also in medal contention as she will take on Kazhakstan’s Ayaulym Kassymova after making it through the repechage rounds in the 62kg freestyle category.
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