Wrestling
Wrestler Seema Bisla qualifies for the Tokyo Olympics
Seema Bisla became the eighth Indian wrestler to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics today.
Seema Bisla (Source: United World Wrestling/Twitter)
Seema Bisla became the eighth Indian wrestler to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics today. Competing in the Women's 50kg weight division at the World Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers at Sofia, the 29 year old Seema reached the final of her event to book her slot at the Tokyo Games.
Seema had a field day at Sofia as she registered three consecutive wins in the day to make her way to the Tokyo Olympics. She crushed Anastasiya Yanotava of Belarus 8-0 in her pre-quarterfinal match to start off her day.
Up against Emma Malmgren of Sweden in the quarterfinal the Indian displayed some top-notch wrestling to win the bout 10-2, and set up a semi-final clash with the Polish Anna Lukasiak.
In what was the most important match of the tournament, Seema came up trumps 2-1, after trailing to storm her way not only in to the final of the event but also to the Tokyo Olympics.
Amongst the other Indians who were in contention today, Men's Freestyle wrestler Sumit withdrew from the finals of 125kg weight division to settle for a silver against the Russian Sergey Kozyrev. Sumit had yesterday secured a place at the Olympics when he reached the final.
On the other hand, the other two woman wrestlers in contention – Pooja Sihag and Nisha Dahiya bowed out of the tournament early in the day.
Nisha registered a victory by fall in her pre-quarterfinal match of the 68kg division against Poland's Natalia Strzalka, she went down 2-12 on technical superiority to Bulgarian Mimi Hristova in the quarterfinal to have her Olympic dreams shattered.
Pooja, on contrary, failed to win her only bout of the day as she lost a hard fought battle 4-5 to Kamile Gaucaite of Lithuania in the qualification round of the 76kg weight division.
