U23 World Wrestling Championships: Komal Wins Bronze, Amruta Pujari Enters Final In Las Vegas

Las Vegas, October 16: India's Komal clinched a bronze medal in the women's 59kg category, while Amruta Pujari stormed into the 72kg final at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships with two impressive victories by fall.

Komal secured third place after defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7-2 in the bronze-medal bout. The Indian wrestler had earlier beaten Canada's Ella Finding on criteria after their contest ended 1-1 before overcoming Moldova's Madalina Prisacari 8-3.

However, her run towards the title was halted in the semifinals, where Ukraine's Alina Filipovych registered a victory by technical superiority, sending Komal into the bronze-medal contest.

Pujari, who hails from Solapur in Maharashtra, will now compete for gold against Ukraine's Iryna Zablotska. The Indian produced a strong performance to reach the final, recording two victories by fall.

She began her campaign against Kazakhstan's Sabyrzhanova, establishing a 7-1 lead before sealing the win by fall. In the semifinal against China's Wenjin Qiu, Pujari was leading 10-8 when she secured another pinfall victory to book her place in the gold-medal bout.

India also has two wrestlers, Sweety and Vaishnavi Patil, in contention for bronze through the repechage route.

Competing in the 53kg category, Sweety defeated Kazakhstan's Dinara Dauylkyzy in the pre-quarterfinals but lost 11-2 to Cristelle Rodriguez Dobler in the quarterfinals. With Dobler advancing to the final, Sweety received a repechage opportunity and will face China's Xiaptong Zeng for a place in the bronze-medal bout.

Vaishnavi will take on Japan's Haruka Kobaru in the 65kg repechage after losing to Russia's Ekaterina Koshkina by technical superiority in the quarterfinals. Diksha Malik finished fifth in the women's 76kg category.

India's campaign had earlier received a boost through Vishvajit More's silver medal in the Greco-Roman 55kg event.

However, visa-related issues prevented Indian wrestlers from competing in four women's categories and five Greco-Roman divisions, affecting the country's participation at the championships.