Asian Wrestling: Meenakshi bags silver

Bishkek: Meenakshi Goyat added a third silver to India’s tally in the women’s 53kg category, while three men’s freestyle wrestlers advanced to the gold medal bouts in their respective weight classes at the Senior Asian Wrestling Championships here on Friday.

Monika (women’s 65kg) and Harshita (women’s 72kg) then signed off with bronze medals to take India’s overall medals tally into double figures -- three silver and seven bronze.

India’s sole gold medal hope on Friday rested on Meenakshi, who had fought back from the brink in the semi-finals to reach this far. However, the 25-year-old was not at her best and went down 0-10 against China’s Jin Zhang.

Monika and Harshita lifted their spirits with clinical performances to clinch the bronze medals. Monika defeated Hanbit Lee of South Korea 9-0 to in the women’s 65kg category, while Harshita got the better of Sevinchoy Polvonova 5-0 in the women’s 72kg bronze medal bout. Earlier, India’s men’s freestyle wrestlers showcased their growing stature on the continental stage Sujeet (65kg), Abhimanyou (70kg) and Sandeep Mann (79kg)

sealed their final berth.