India claimed its second medal at the World Junior Wrestling Championships in Tampere, Finland, as Manju Kumari clinched the bronze medal in the women’s 59 kg category on Thursday. Kumari, who had reached the bronze medal play-off through the repechage round, defeated Ukraine’s Ilona Prokopevniuk 2-0.
Earlier, Kumari had reached the quarter-finals of the event with a 5-1 win over Bulgarian Aleksandrina Nikolaeva Kashinova in the pre-quarter-final bout. However, a 10-0 defeat to Japan’s Yuzuru Kumano in the quarter-final meant that Kumari’s chances of making it to the bronze medal bout hinged on Kumano reaching the final.
Interestingly, Prokopevniuk had lost to Kumano in the semi-final, which in turn also allowed Kumari to qualify for the repechage round. In her repechage bout, Kumari went on to overpower Canada’s Tianna Grace Kennett 4-0.
In the other women’s events in the Championships, Divya Tomar lost the repechage bout to Fatme Ibraimova Mandeva of Bulgaria, 2-2, in the 44 kg category. Tomar had lost the qualification round to Japan’s Manami Ueno 10-0, but reached the repechage round after Ueno reached the final of the event category.
Nandini Bajirao Salokhe bowed out of the 51 kg category after losing her quarter-final to Bolor Erdene Bat Orshikh of Mongolia, 10-4. And lastly, Pooja Devi lost in the pre-quarter-final round to Germany’s Theresa Elisa Edfelder 6-3.