Sarita Mor stuns World Championships bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda in selection trials

Sarita Mor beat Pooja Dhanda in the 57kg selection trials to book a slot in the national side for the World wrestling championships.

File photo: Pooja Dhanda (in yellow) lost 2-1 in the final to Sarita Mor.

Sarita Mor stunned World championships bronze medallist Pooja Dhanda in the 57kg selection trials to book a slot in the National side for the World wrestling championships, the first event offering quota places in 2020 Tokyo Olympics, to be held in Kazakhstan in September.

In the women’s trials for six Olympic weight classes held in Lucknow on Sunday, Sarita, an Asian championships silver medallist in 2017, defeated Pooja – who had a close shave against Anshu Malik in the semifinals -- 2-1in the final.

Sarita had earlier upset Pooja 6-5 in a keenly-fought bout of the Pro Wrestling League in January last.

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Seema beat the seasoned Nirmala 7-0 to claim the 50kg place, while Divya Kakran, a current Asian bronze medallist, got the better of former Asian champion Navjot Kaur 6-3 to secure the 68kg spot.

Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik and Asian Games and Commonwealth Games gold medal winner Vinesh Phogat outsmarted Reshma Mane and Pinki by margins of 13-2 and 9-0 to be selected for 62kg and 53kg respectively.

Kiran took the 76kg berth by going past Gursharanpreet Kaur with a 6-4 verdict.

Trials for four non-Olympic weights – 55kg, 59kg, 65kg and 72kg – will be held in second week of August.