Indian girls had a disappointing day out in the UWW World Wrestling Championships today (Thursday) in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, as Pooja Dhanda too missed out on her opportunity win a medal.

In the last match of the day for Indian girls, Pooja lost her bronze medal bout to China’s Xingru Pei. The Chinese girl compelled Pooja on the defensive from the word go. Pooja’s hopes for a World Championship medal were dashed with a 1-5 verdict against her.

Pooja, in spite of making it to the semi-finals, will have to wait for her ticket to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as the 59kg weight category does not figure in women’s competition in the Olympics.

Earlier today, Rio de Janeiro games bronze medallist Sakshi and prodigious Divya, playing her maiden UWW World Championships, crashed on the first hurdle.

Sakshi’s late surge did not help her much as she went down fighting 7-10 to Aminat Adeniyi of Nigeria in her women’s freestyle 62-kg weight category opener. The seasoned pro rallied from a 0-6 deficit, but her late surge turned out to be little and inconsequential with the Nigerian girl romping home in spite a tough second round challenge from Sakshi.

Aminat’s exit in the quarter-finals also ended Sakshi’s prospect of a return in the repechage round. The Indian girl had excelled in the repechage for becoming the first Indian women wrestler to win an Olympic medal.

It was a baptism by fire the World Wrestling Championship debutant Divya, who was drawn against fancied Olympic champion Sara Dosho of Japan. Divya put up a valiant fight against her fancied opponent, who eventually prevailed 2-0 in the women’s 68-kg first round.

Divya would be hoping that Dosho reaches the final and she can make it to the repechage round. He hopes of a comeback were dashed as Sara Dosho lost in the quarter-finals to Tamyra Mariama Mensah of the USA, who will now take on Anna Jenny Eva Maria Fransson of Sweden.