India's Sarita Mor became the first woman wrestler from the country to win a record fourth Asian Championships medal when the girl from Haryana's Sonepat district clinched a bronze with a 5-2 win over Kazakhstan's Diana Kayumova in the Ulaanbaatar continental meet in Mongolia on Thursday.
Sarita had entered the competition as twice defending champion in the 59kg category, having won the title in 2020 (New Delhi) and 2021 (Almaty). However, she faltered during her campaign in Ulaanbaatar after losing her opening two bouts against Mongolia's Shoovdor Baatarjav (1-2) and Japan's Sara Natami by technical superiority, which put her out of the gold medal contention. Sarita then recovered from early setbacks in her next two bouts and defeated Uzbekistan's Dilfuza Aimbetova by technical superiority and Kayumova to win a creditable bronze in a tough field.
"I am happy with my overall performance but equally disappointed. It was a close bout against the Mongolian wrestler and could have gone either way. My next target is to win the selection trials for the upcoming CWG and Asian Games and bring gold medals from both the tournaments," Sarita told TOI. Also securing bronze was Sarita's teammate Sushma Shokeen in the 55kg category.
