Grappler Indu opens India's medal account in Jr World C'ship

Indu beat Evin Demirhan of Turkey 3-1 in a closely contested repechage round bout to open India's account in the tournament.

The young grappler won the first period of the bronze medal bout, but Demirhan made a strong comeback in the second period to remain in contention. However, the 20-year-old Indian grappler held her nerve to win the next period and the bout to bag the bronze medal.

Earlier, Indu beat Russia's Aziyata Khomushku in a lop sided pre-quarterfinal bout before humbling the Moldovan Emilia Budeanu in the quarterfinals.

She, however, lost 0-5 to Japan's Rie Matsumoto in the semifinals, only to remain in contention for the bronze.

It was, though, a heartbreak for Pooja Dhanda in the 59kg group after she lost her bronze medal bout 0-3 to China's Feng Jiamin.

Pooja started off her campaign on a positive note beating Kazakhstan's Ayaulym Kassymova 3-1 in the pre-quarterfinal and making a light work of Poland's Agnieszka Sylwia Krol in the next round to reach the semis.

She however lost the semifinal bout to Turkey's Sahin Hafize and could not also do much in the bronze medal bout in the repechage round to return empty handed from the tournament.

Meanwhile, India's challenge in the 51kg was cut short after Archana Tomar crashed out of the championship after losing her pre-quarter final bout to Sweden's Fredrika Ida Petersson.

In another bout Seema (61kg) was no match to Krystsina Fedarashka of Belarus as she lost 0-5 in the pre-quarters.

Earlier Indian male grapplers drew a blank in the Greco Roman category.