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It was Haryana's day to shine at the Senior National Wrestling Championships 2024 as they clinched a stunning seven golds in the women's category on the final day of the competition at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Having earlier dominated the men's freestyle division, Haryana went the extra mile in the women's field by winning a total of eight of the 10 golds on offer to finish with a mammoth total of 235 points and top the standings with aplomb. The pick among Haryana's multiple gold medallists was Radhika (68kg), who won silver at the Asian Wrestling Championships in April this year. Having received a bye in the opening round, she began her campaign with an emphatic victory by Superiority (VSU) against Madhya Pradesh's Anjali Karos, before achieving the same result against Himachal Pradesh's Sonika Kumar in the quarterfinal. The 23-year-old, who represented India at the Asian Games 2023, earned a routine victory against Karnataka's Leena Anthony in the semifinal to come within a bout of the gold. Such was Radhika's form on Sunday that she did not drop a single point until the final, where she beat Delhi's Srishti for the 68kg category crown. Reflecting on her incredible campaign, Radhika said as quoted by a WFI release, "I was feeling confident before I came in for this competition and I'm happy to walk away with the gold. The final bout was the most challenging, but the level of competition was quite high. My coach always says no matter what you must come back with the gold." Having shown plenty of promise at the junior levels, Radhika has now set her sights on the upcoming Asian Games 2026 as her big target. "I had fallen ill before my matchups at the Asian Games and could not do my best, but I also realised I must keep improving to succeed at that level. I am focussing on the 2026 Asian Games and want to bring back a gold medal for India," she added. Elsewhere, Jyoti triumphed in the 53kg final by beating Rajasthan's Kavita M, while Meenakshi cruised to a smooth win against SSCB's Jyoti in the 55kg final. Tapasya (57kg) and Anjali (59kg) added to Haryana's gold tally as they got the better of Maharashtra's Aashlesha and Punjab's Tanu respectively. It continued to rain golds for team Haryana when Manisha earned a hard-fought win against Rajasthan's Monika for the 65kg title and Priya (76kg) blanked SSCB's Reetika to take top honours. About the event: The Karnataka Wrestling Association is hosting the Senior National Wrestling Championships 2024 under the leadership of Bellippady Gunaranjan Shetty, President of the Karnataka Wrestling Association (KWA) and Joint Secretary of the Wrestling Federation of India. The three-day wrestling carnival will feature some of India's best wrestlers and will be overseen by Sports Authority of India coaches Kirtisna Arya and Vinay Kumar, who have been appointed as the technical officials for the event. Women's Wrestling Results: 50kg: Shivani Pawar (MP) bt Vinita (HAR); 12-4 53kg: Jyoti (HAR) beat Kavita M (RAJ); 12-1 55kg: Meenakshi (HAR) bt Jyoti (SSCB); 11-1 57kg; Tapsya (HAR) bt Aashlesha (Mah); 10-0 59kg; Anjali (HAR) bt Tanu (PUN); 10-0 62kg: Bhagyashree (MAH) bt Khushi Thakur (HP); 10-0 65kg: Manisha (HAR) bt Monika (RAJ); 8-4 68kg: Radhika (HAR) bt Srishti (DEL); 7-1 72kg: Priyanka (HAR) bt Laxmi Pandey (UP); 4-0 76KG: Priya (HAR) bt Reetika (SSCB); 10-0 Overall Rankings (Women's): 1. Haryana 235 points 2. Maharashtra 150 points 3. Delhi 106 points. (ANI)
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