Commonwealth Games 2022: Anshu Malik wins women's 57kg silver

Anshu Malik, on Friday, clinched the silver medal in women's 57kg wrestling at the ongoing 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. She lost to Nigeria's Odunayo Adekuoroye 3-7 in the final.

Anshu, who has taken rapid strides in her career, reached the women's 57kg final with dominance but ended up second-best with a silver medal. The Nidani wrestler, who turned 21 on Friday, won by technical superiority against Australia's Irene Symeonidis and Sri Lanka's Nethmi Ahinsa Fernando Poruthotage.

It did not take Anshu much time to measure her opponents. Her trademark aggression and quality were too hot to handle for her rivals till the gold medal bout. The World Championship silver medallist though could not breach the defence of Nigeria's Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye, losing the gold bout 3-7. The Nigerian was strong with her defence and Anshu could not find a way to make her moves. She left the mat with tears in her eyes as it was not the birthday present she wanted to give herself.

The Nigerian was given a passivity warning with just 1 minute and 20 minutes remaining, following which Anshu Malik opened her account. The 21-year-old Indian tried her best to force her way back into the contest but instead gifted two points on a counterattack to trail 1-6.

With just seconds left on the clock, Anshu fought back to pocket 2 points, but it did not matter as Odunayo Adekuorye maintained her lead to clinch the gold medal 7-3.

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