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Asian wrestling: Silver for Nisha Dahiya, India tally 6 medals
The 68kg wrestler, on a fine injury comeback, reached the final in Astana, but fell to Japan’s Ami Ishii 10-0. In Greco-Roman, Rupin won silver in 55kg division
Nisha Dahiya was posting tenacious victories till she ran into world championships silver medallist Ami Ishii of Japan in the 68kg final and finish as runner-up at the Asian wrestling championships in Astana, Kazakhstan on Tuesday. Ishii eased to a 10-0 win over Nisha.
For Nisha, the medal was testimony to her fighting spirit after making an injury comeback. Six months back, she had returned home on a wheelchair from the world championships in Serbia with mental scars adding to the injury. Her right knee injury acted up against the same Japanese rival as she lost a close semi-final.
With a world bronze medal at stake, Nisha fought against Linda Morais of Canada and was even leading when a leg attack from Morais left her in tears on the mat and she was unable to move. Then followed a tough two months of recovery before she made a comeback at the national championships last year. She then won the trials for the Asian meet earlier this month.
Nisha, the U-23 world bronze medallist, has also faced drama off the mat. In 2021, she grabbed media headlines after being mistaken for another wrestler of the same name who was shot dead at an akhara in Sonepat. The 25-year-old trains at the Satyawan akhara in Rohtak and has learnt a lot through her sparring sessions with Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik.
At Astana on Tuesday, she was in flow with fast counterattacks and showed resilience. In the semi-final against Feng Zhou of China, Nisha trailed 6-3 before bouncing back to win 7-6. It was an equally thrilling finish against Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan of Mongolia in the quarter-finals. Nisha scored a takedown with seconds left on the clock to level scores at 10-10. A four-point throw ensured semi-finals entry on criteria.
She found the going tough against Ishii in the final. The Japanese was swift with leg attacks and took a four-point lead in the first period. Nisha looked to comeback with a underhook in the second period but Ishii defended well and countered for two more points. She then cruised to win.
India won bronze in the women’s 76kg where Priya edged past Mizuki Nagashima of Japan 2-1. In 50kg, Neelam lost her bronze medal bout 10-0 to Ziqi Feng of China.
Overall, India have won six medals so far. Greco-Roman wrestlers won four medals on the first two days of competition. Rupin won 55kg silver and Neeraj (63kg), Sunil Kumar (87kg) and Vikas (72kg) claimed bronze.
