Seema Bisla qualifies for Tokyo Olympics, India equals previous best qualification

Seema Bisla qualifies for Tokyo Olympics, India equals previous best qualification

Seema Bisla

Indian wrestler Seema Bisla secured a Tokyo Olympics berth in women’s 50kgas she reached the finals of the World Olympic Qualifier in Bulgaria. She became the fourth Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Tokyo Games and eight overall Indian wrestler to qualify for the Games. With this India equals its previous best qualification of eight wrestlers from the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Seema bested European Championship bronze medallist Anna Lukasiak of Poland in a close fight to book a spot for Tokyo Games. Seema pulled off a quick take down in the first period after giving away a point on passivity to take a 2-1 lead. She will be squaring off with Ecuador’s Lucia Yamileth Yepez Guzman in the gold medal game today.

Seema Bisla joins elite company as she books Tokyo Games spot

Seema Bisla
Seema Bisla

Seema will be joining wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Anshu Malik and Sonam Malik on the flight to Tokyo later this year. It will be first time that four Indian women wrestlers will compete in the Olympics. The 2016 games in Rio saw three Indian female wrestlers take the mat.

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Seema was dominating in the earlier stages as she displayed great aggressive and defensive play. She defeated Belarus’ Anastasiya Yanotava in the pre-quarterfinals convincingly. Meanwhile, the other two Indian wrestlers, Nisha and Pooja, failed to make the Olympic cut as they could not reach the finals of their respective categories.

In the Greco-Roman event on the other hand, India put up a sorry show as none of them failed to qualify for the Tokyo Games. Gurpreet Singh who was considered one of the favourites to seal a berth was ousted in the pre-quarter final while the rest put up abject displays to bow out.

Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Sumit Malik, Bajrang Punia and Deepak Punia are the ones who have booked a slot in men’s freestyle for the Tokyo games.

Also Read | Wrestler Sumit Malik qualifies for Tokyo Olympics