Anshu Malik creates history, becomes first Indian woman wrestler to reach World Championship final

Anshu Malik creates history, becomes first Indian woman wrestler to reach World Championship final

Nineteen-year-old Anshu will be up against the 2016 Olympic champion Helen Maroulis in the gold-medal match on Thursday

Anshu Malik on Wednesday created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the World Championship final when she outclassed junior European champion Solomiia Vynnyk but Sarita Mor lost her semifinal and will fight for a bronze in Oslo.

The 19-year-old Anshu, the reigning Asian champion, controlled the semifinal from the beginning and won by technical superiority in the 57kg category to go into history books.

Only four Indian women wrestlers have won medals at the Worlds and all of them — Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019) — have clinched bronze.

“It’s extremely satisfying. I am so happy. It feels so good. What I could not do at the Tokyo Games I did that here. I fought each and every bout as my last bout,” said Anshu after making the final.

“The month after the Tokyo Games was very tough. I could not perform as I had wanted at the Games. I suffered an injury (elbow) and can’t explain how much pain I endured one month before the World championship.