Kolkata: Young Indian grappler Sonam Malik on Thursday won the gold medal at the World Cadet Wrestling Championship in Athens, Greece. The 15 year old competing in the 56kg category defeated Japanese Sena Nagamoto 3-1 in the final to win the coveted medal.
Playing on the fourth day of the event, the Indian took a 2-0 lead in the first round. Just when it looked like Sonam would run away with the win, Nagamoto won a point back to set up an intense fight, before Malik added point to her kitty, towards the end of the bout, to win the final.
Another Indian in the fray, Neelam bagged the bronze medal. Competing in the 43kg category she defeated Romania’s Roxana Alexandra 6-4, to win the medal.
More medals await India, as wrestler Anshu will play for gold on Friday, against Japanese Naomi Ruike in the 60kg category. Anshu raced her way into the final defeating Russian Parokhina by 6-2 points in the quarter-finals before defeating Hungarian wrestler Bihar 8-0 in the semis.
Meanwhile, four other women wrestlers of India namely, Simran, Manisha, Minakshi and Karuna are set to fight for bronze medals in four different categories at the Championships.
On the other hand, Iran’s national cadet Greco-Roman wrestling team finished as the overall vice champion of the Cadet World Championship in Greece.