World Wrestling Championships 2022: Nisha Dahiya suffers injury relapse during bronze match; to be treated in Delhi

Kolkata: Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya injured her right knee during her 68kg bronze medal bout in the World Wrestling Championships 2022 in Belgrade on Thursday. The incident happened closer to the end of the first half when the 24-year-old Indian grappler was leading the repechage round final 4-0 against Canada’s Linda Morais.

In an attempt to escape an attack from her rival, Nisha’s foot movement caused a relapse of an old ligament injury that earlier forced her to miss a UWW Ranking Series event (2022 Yasar Dogu) in Istanbul in February. Her Canadian opponent made the most of the opportunity as she defeated Nisha by fall to win the bronze. It was worth noting that Nisha’s knee was already well-strapped during the bout.

“It was an old ligament injury that resurfaced during Nisha’s bronze medal bout,” WFI women’s chief coach Jitender Yadav told Firstpost from Belgrade. “The injury happened back in February but she recovered well to join the camp but today (Thursday) the injury resurfaced after the way she made a movement during the bout. It was disappointing for the team because she was winning the medal.”

The coach further updated that Nisha won’t be undergoing any treatment on her knee in the Serbian capital as the women’s team will fly back to India on Friday evening. World No. 65 will undergo treatment in Delhi.

It was an abrupt end to Nisha’s strong World Championship campaign as she defeated three higher-ranked opponents, including World No. 5 Adela Hanzlikcova in the quarterfinals, with a dominant display in the non-Olympic category.

Nisha then lost her semifinal bout against Ami Ishii by a narrow margin of 5-4 while squandering the lead twice. Losing in the semis meant she had another shot at a medal as Nisha entered the repechage round.

However, the abrupt defeat on Thursday meant Indian women wrestlers came back with just one medal from the World Championship as Vinesh Phogat won the 53kg category bronze on Wednesday.

The men’s team will continue to be in action on Friday as Naveen Malik will compete in the repechage round of the 70kg category while star wrestlers Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57kg) and Bajrang Punia (65kg) will fight for gold as their events begin.

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