The Olympic bronze medalist and India’s front runner in the World Wrestling Championship Sakshi Malik crashed out in the first round. After three days without any victory, all focus on Sakshi Malik and her compatriot Vinesh Phogat to end India’s medal drought but both failed to live up to the expectation.
Vinesh and Sakshi Malik went down in their respective Round of 16 bouts. The Olympic bronze medalist was stunned by Luisa of Germany 1-3 in women’s 60kg while Vinesh Phogat lost to two-time junior world champion Victoria Anthony of the USA in 48kg.
There was a lot of expectation on Sakshi Malik, who became the first Indian women wrestler to win an Olympic medal but she was out classed by a lower ranked opponent.
Now India's only hope is the men's freestyle wrestlers, especially Asian champion Bajrang Punia (65kg) and Olympian Sandeep Tomar (57kg) on the last two remaining days of the tournament.