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NEW DELHI: India’s Nisha Dahiya secured the biggest-ever medal of her promising wrestling career when she won a silver in the women’s 68kg category at the Asian Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
Another Indian wrestler, Priya Malik, clinched a bronze in the women’s 76kg category after beating Japan’s Mizuki Nagashima in the repechage round. Priya, the U-20 Worlds silver medallist, had beaten Chinese Taipei’s Hui Tsz Chang in the qualification round before going down to Kyrgyz Republic’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy in the second round.
Nisha, who made a sensational comeback in her semifinal, defeating China’s Feng Zhou 7-6 in a nail-biter after trailing for the better part of the bout, found the going tough against a superior Japanese opponent Ami Ishii and lost her gold medal match by technical superiority.
Ishii amassed a 10-point lead before the referee called off the contest. Ishii, a 2022 World Championships silver medallist, had led Nisha 4-0 at the end of the first period. Nisha’s silver is also her first major medal at the senior level.
Previously, she had competed at the U-23 Worlds in 2021, winning bronze in the 65kg category. At last year’s senior Worlds in Belgrade, she lost her bronze medal match in the 68kg division. In November 2021, the Indian wrestling fraternity was left in shock when the news broke out that Nisha and her brother Suraj had been shot dead at a wrestling academy in Sonepat by unidentified assailants.
However, the news of Nisha’s killing turned out to be a case of mistaken identity after it was revealed that some other wrestler of the same name was shot.
Another Indian wrestler, Priya Malik, clinched a bronze in the women’s 76kg category after beating Japan’s Mizuki Nagashima in the repechage round. Priya, the U-20 Worlds silver medallist, had beaten Chinese Taipei’s Hui Tsz Chang in the qualification round before going down to Kyrgyz Republic’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy in the second round.
Nisha, who made a sensational comeback in her semifinal, defeating China’s Feng Zhou 7-6 in a nail-biter after trailing for the better part of the bout, found the going tough against a superior Japanese opponent Ami Ishii and lost her gold medal match by technical superiority.
Ishii amassed a 10-point lead before the referee called off the contest. Ishii, a 2022 World Championships silver medallist, had led Nisha 4-0 at the end of the first period. Nisha’s silver is also her first major medal at the senior level.
Previously, she had competed at the U-23 Worlds in 2021, winning bronze in the 65kg category. At last year’s senior Worlds in Belgrade, she lost her bronze medal match in the 68kg division. In November 2021, the Indian wrestling fraternity was left in shock when the news broke out that Nisha and her brother Suraj had been shot dead at a wrestling academy in Sonepat by unidentified assailants.
However, the news of Nisha’s killing turned out to be a case of mistaken identity after it was revealed that some other wrestler of the same name was shot.
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