Anshu Malik and Sonam Malik confirm Tokyo Olympics berth at the Asian Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers
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Anshu Malik
India’s female wrestler Anshu Malik grabbed the Tokyo Olympics quota as she beat Shokhida Akhmedova of Uzbekistan in the semi-finals of the Asian Olympic Wrestling Qualifiers on Saturday in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Anshu fought in the 57kg of women’s wrestling semifinal and won by technical superiority of 12-2 over her Uzbekistan opponent.
She was drawn in Group A of the qualifier. In round 1, she took on Korea’s Um Jiuen whom she beat 10-0 VSU. In Round 2, she defeated Kazakhstan’s Tissina Emma by 10-0 VSU.
Anshu Malik had just recovered from a back injury she sustained in the first week of March. Due to a which she was forced to withdraw from the women’s 57kg bronze medal bout during the Matteo Pellicone World Ranking Series held in Rome from March 4 to 7.
This is going to be the first Olympics appearance for Anshu, who is aged just 19. She won bronze in the Asian Championships held in February last year at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Sports Complex in New Delhi. In December, Malik won silver in the Individual World Cup in Belgrade, Serbia. She will play her Gold medal match later on today.
Anshu however, lost in her final bout and had to settle for a silver.
Sonam Malik qualifies; Nisha falls in the semi-final
India’s joy upon Anshu Malik’s qualification was doubled when Sonam Malik too grabbed her quota in the 62 kg category. The 18-year-old defeated Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym Kassymova in the semi-final to seal her place. The scoreline of the match read 9-6 in favor of the Indian.
The last few years has seen Sonam in scintillating form as she has been supremely consistent, winning two gold medals at the 2017 and 2019 Cadet World Championships and win a silver medal at the 2018 edition of the same competition.
Nisha too had a chance of making the cut but lost in her semi-final match.
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