Injured Nisha Dahiya fails to enhance India’s medal tally at the Belgrade World Wrestling Championships

Indian wrestler Nisha Dahiya looked poised for a podium finish at the World Wrestling Championships being held in Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday night. She raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening 30 seconds of the 68kg bronze medal match. However, later on in the contest, she sustained a knee injury and had to concede the bout.

Nisha’s body language and initial lead raised hopes of a second medal for the Indian women’s contingent. She was in control of the proceedings and looked like she would wrap up the match in the first half of the three minutes itself.

However, the injury to her right knee put paid to her hopes. Canada’s Linda Morais had equalized and brought the score to 4-4 before walking away with the bronze.

“Nisha had pain in her right knee and, as a precaution, was wearing a kneecap. But she hurt her knee during the bout and the pain aggravated. She had to concede the match,” Jitendra Yadav, India’s chief women's wrestling coach told Sportskeeda over the phone from Serbia.

According to the chief coach, further investigation will be carried out once Nisha is back in India.

“The women’s competition was over on Thursday night in Serbia. We will take an afternoon flight on Friday to India,” the chief coach added. “Nisha took pain killers after the injury but will consult medical experts in India to examine the nature of injury.”

Prior to Nisha Dahiya sustaining an injury in her medal bout, Vinesh Phogat had opened India's account by winning a bronze medal in the women’s 53kg event at the World Wrestling Championships.

Nisha Dahiya's journey to bronze medal bout in World Wrestling Championships

Nisha Dahiya also looked on course for a medal as she dominated her qualification round with a score of 11-0. She won her pre-quarterfinals with a scoreline of 13-8.

In the quarterfinal against Sofiya Hrishtova Georgieva of Bulgaria, Nisha scored a 11-0 win to move into the semifinal stage. Then, she lost 4-5 to her Japanese opponent Ami Ishi in the semis. This led her to the bronze medal bout where she suffered the unfortunate injury.

“Nisha gave a good account of herself in the competition, but she was unlucky to sustain an injury in the bronze medal match,” Yadav concludes.

Hopefully, the talented wrestler can recover from her injury and get back into top-level competition for India.