Vinesh Phogat entered repechage in the women's 53kg catgeory of the World Wrestling Championships on Tuesday after defending champion Mayu Mukaida advanced to the final.
Vinesh will now have to beat USA's Sarah Hildebrandt to seal an Olympic quota and will futher have to get past Greece's Maria Prevolaraki to win the bronze.
Seema also made it to repechage in the 50kg category as Azerbaijan's Mariya Stanik, who she had lost to in the second round, reached the final. She will have to win her next two bouts to earn an Olympic quota and then China's Sun Yanan to get her hands on the bronze.
Earlier in the day, Vinesh had lost 7-0 to Mukaida in the second round. The Japanese remained patient in the opening two minutes and got a waist hold on Vinesh to take a 7-0 lead. Vinesh wasn't able to recover as she went for the leg but Mukaida kept evading the Indian's attempts and successfully reached the semifinal.
Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh had started the tournament in emphatic fashion as she routed Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson 13-0 in the opening round. Vinesh stormed to an early 4-0 lead and made attacks around the waist.
The Indian then took a massive 13-0 lead in the final seconds of the bout when she pushed Sofia out of the mat. The Swede opted to challenge the referee's decision but eventually lost it as Vinesh had her foot inside the line.
READ | Vinesh needs to keep her concentration from zero to six minutes: Coach Akos
In the women's 72kg category, Komal Gole lost 1-4 to Turkey's Beste Altug in the qualification round while Lalita lost 10-3 to Mongolia's Bolortuya Bat Ochir in the second round of the 55kg.
In the men's department, Naveen lost the lost the Greco-Roman 130kg repechage to Estonia's Heiki Nabi. With Naveen's exit, India's run in the Greco-Roman category ended, with none of the 10 wrestlers making the quarterfinals.
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