Astana (Kazakhstan), Apr 11 (PTI) Making a memorable debut at the Asian Championship, Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya got herself in contention for a gold medal after edging past her opponents in close bouts, here Tuesday.

Nisha downed China’s Feng Zhou in the semifinal, which she won 7-6 after trailing 3-6 in the 68kg bout.

This was after the 25-year-old emerged winner on ‘criteria’ in the quarterfinal against Mongolia’s Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan. The scores were level 10-10 at the end of the bout but the Indian was declared the winner on ‘criteria’.

She will now clash with World championship silver medallist Ami Ishii of Japan in the gold medal bout later in the day.

Neelam, the U23 Asian Championship silver medallist, and the 18-year-old Priya, who is competing at the senior level for the first time, will fight for bronze medals in the 50kg and 76kg weight classes respectively.

Neelam notched up a victory by fall win against local favourite Ellada Makhyaddinova in the quarterfinal. However, in her semifinal bout Japan’s Remina Yoshimoto defeated her in the same manner.

The 2021 Cadet World champion Priya, on the other hand, won her qualification round against Hui Tsz Chang of Chinese Taipei 2-1 before suffering a defeat by fall at the hands of Kyrgyzstan’s Aiperi Medet Kyzy.

Neelam will take on China’s Ziqi Feng in the bronze medal bout while Priya will clash with Mizuki Nagashima of Japan.

Meanwhile, up and coming Sito (50kg) and Sarita Mor (59kg), who is competing for the first time after being a part of the wrestlers’ protest against WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, failed to enter the medal round.

While Sito made a first round exit, losing to local Marina Secneva, Sarita managed to win against Mongolia’s Bolortuya Khurelkhuu 4-1 and Japan’s Yui Sakano 6-1.

She, however, suffered a stunning defeat by fall against Chinese grappler Zhuomalaga in the third round to make an exit from the tournament, where she has tasted considerable success over the years.

Source: PTI News