A day after Sonam Malik become a two-time Cadet Wrestling World Champion with her third straight World Cadet medal, another stellar 15-year-old Komal Panchal wrestled brilliantly to win India's second gold medal and ended women’s wrestling campaign at cadet World Championships in Sofia. Komal dominated as she clinched the title in 40 kg category. Sonam Malik claimed one gold medal in 65 kg category on Thursday.
Komal bagged the gold in the 40 kg category, defeating USA’s Sterling Blayke Dias, who is a 2018 cadet World bronze medalist, to set the score of 4-4.
Komal is a daughter of a farm labourer who hails from Patti Kalyana village of Samalkha in Panipat. She is the second female wrestler to win the gold after Sonam Malik. Komal defeated Miu Obata of Japan 10-9 in the semi-finals and earlier, she knocked down Zozan Akar of Turkey 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
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Komal dedicated a strong fight, mounting two comebacks in the second period for a 4-4 win on criteria. The gold medal bout began with Komal putting on shot-clock. But Dias completed a takedown and took a 2-0 lead. Komal patiently took time to trail 0-2 at the break but swung into action in the second period and made it 2-2 with a takedown of her own. The two wrestlers exchanged takedowns in the remaining time to tie the score 4-4 but since Komal had scored the final point, she won the gold medal fair and square.
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The Haryana girl Komal was the U15 Asian champion in 2018 and won a silver medal at the cadet Asian Championships earlier this year. She has been part of the national camp since May.
India also won a bronze medal on Friday with Hanny Kumari wrestling and defeating Adriana Sanchez of Mexico in the bronze medal play-off by fall to capture the third position. After the impressive two medals, India grabbed the fifth spot in the team race which was won by Japan. China was second in the race with USA taking the third spot and Russia placed in the fourth place.
Feature Image Credit: The Bridge
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