2019 World Wrestling Championship: Olympic hopes alive for Vinesh Phogat, Seema Bisla

India’s star grappler Vinesh Phogat (53kg) and Seem Bisla (50kg) kept their hopes of winning a bronze medal at the ongoing World Wrestling Championship being held in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan and qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 alive.

Both Vinesh and Seema got a repechage in their respective categories, which means on Wednesday both will get a chance to fight for a place on the podium.

Vinesh, who won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, had earlier started the day on a terrific note outclassing Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson 13-0 in 1st round.

However, in the last 16, she went down to defending World Champion Mayu Mukaida 0-7. This was Vinesh’s second consecutive loss to Maya after losing to her at the Asian Championship in China.

The 25-year-old now needs to win two matches on the trot to secure an Olympic berth and if she goes on to make it three, she will take home the bronze medal from Nur Sultan. On Wednesday, Vinesh will take on Ukraine's Yulia Khavaldzhoy Blahinya in her first repechage. If she wins the bout, she will face Sarah Ann Hildebrandt of the USA in the second repechage. In the bronze medal fight (if Vinesh wins her first two repechage matches), Maria Prevolarek of Greece will be Vinesh's opponent.

Elsewhere, in the 50-kg category, World Number 3 Seema lost in the pre-quarterfinal 2-9 to three-time Olympic medallist Mariya Stadnik. Stadnik, on her part, went on to make it to the final of the category by virtue of which Seema has been handed a repechage.

Seema will now face Nigeria's Misesimmei Mercy Genesis in her first repechage match while her second repechage match, she will be up against Russia's Ekaterina Poleschuk. If she manages to win both bouts, then she will challenge China's Sun Yanan for the bronze medal.