World Wrestling Championships: Anshu Malik wins silver, Sarita Mor bags bronze

Indian wrestler Anshu Malik scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the World Wrestling Championships in Oslo, Peru.

Anshu went down to Olympic medallist Helen Maroulis 4-1 in the women's 57kg category final in Oslo, Norway on Thursday. The American wrestler pinned Anshu during the summit clash.

Apart from Anshu, Wrestler Sarita Mor also scripted history as she clinched a bronze medal at the World Wrestling Championships on Thursday. Indian grappler Sarita defeated Sweden's Sara Lindborg 8-2 to clinch the bronze medal in the women's 59kg.

Anshu and Sarita joined the Indian women's grapplers elite club with their victories. Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019), have all won medals at the World Championships.

Indian wrestler's Anshu Malik and Sarita Mor's performance at the World Wrestling Championships

It was definitely a remarkable and memorable outing for both the young Indian grapplers.

Anshu started off well and was leading 1-0 in the first half. Maroulis got Anshu in the grip of her arm and pulled her down to pin her. She grabbed Anshu for a take-down move to take a 2-1 lead. She kept the Indian grappler in control.

Maroulis kept twisting the 19-year-old's right arm to get an 'exposure' point, making it 4-1. The American did not loosen her grip and had Anshu's back on the mat to win the championship by fall.

Sarita stunned the Swede with an early four-pointer lead and added two more points to her tally with a quick take-down. Sarita took a compelling 6-0 lead in the first half and pulled off another stunner to take a 8-0 lead. Sarita conceded a take-down late in the bout but that would not have bothered her. She claimed bronze at the World Wrestling Championships.

Among the other Indian wrestlers, Divya Kakran (72kg) lost her repechage round in the morning session to Mongolia's Davaanasan Enkh Amar. Sandeep (55kg), Vikas (72kg), Sajan (77kg) and Harpreet Singh (82kg) have also bowed out of the World Wrestling Championships.