New Delhi, Sep 17: India's ace female wrestler Vinesh Phogat's challenge at the UWW World Senior Wrestling Championships in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan came to an end on Tuesday (September 17) after she was defeated by two-time World Champion Mayu Mukaida of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals.
In the round of 1/8 finals, the 25-year-old wrestler couldn't get past Mayu's tight defence and lost the match by 0-7. Vinesh's bronze medal hopes though are still alive as she will enter the repechage round if the Japanese reaches final this evening. The repechage round will be played on Wednesday (September 18) from 10:30 AM onwards.
The Asian Games gold medallist wrestler, who switched to 53 kg category from 50 kg, made a dominating start and stunned Rio Olympic bronze medalist Sofia Mattsson 13-0 in the first round.
Vinesh needs to keep her concentration from zero to six minutes
Mukaida defeated Yuliaa Khavaldzhy Blahinya of Ukraine 6-1 in the round 16 bouts to set up a quarter-final clash with Vinesh.
After facing some initial struggles after switching from 50 to 53 kg category, the fiery wrestler from Haryana seemed to have found her groove as she bagged three gold medals at the Yasar Dagu, Poland Open and Spain Open. But the Arjuna Awardee wrestler couldn't repeat her form against a superior Mukaida as the gold medal eluded her and also an entry at the Tokyo Olympics. She will now have to prepare hard to bag an Olympic quota berth.