Tokyo, August 3: Young Indian wrestler Sonam Malik bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics after losing to Mongolia's Bolortuya Khurelkhuu in women's freestyle 62kg 1/8 Final at the Makuhari Messe Hall A Mat B on Tuesday (August 3).
The 19-year-old Indian led the bout 2-0 after scoring two push-out points, but the Asian silver medallist Khurelkhuu performed a take-down move with just 35 seconds left in the contest to level the score.
The bout ended 2-2 in the end and since it was the Mongolian who scored two points with her move as opposed to Sonam's 1 in each period, she was declared winner on separation criteria.
There was hardly any action during a major part of the bout as no move was made till one and a half minute with the two wrestlers measuring each other from standing position.
The Mongolian was put on activity clock but Sonam scored a push-out point to take a 1-0 lead and kept that till the end of the first three-minute period.
Another push out took her 2-0 in front and Sonam did not allow the Mongolian to make any move for a major part, but Khurelkhuu managed to get hold of the Indian's leg and got the decisive take-down in the end.
Sonam, who had qualified for the Tokyo Games by making the final at the Asian Qualifier in April in Almaty, was still in contention to make the repechages and that depended on her 1/8 Final opponent's progress in the Games.
If the Mongolian made the final, Sonam would have got a repechage round to be in contention for bronze medal. But, Khurelkhuu lost to the second seeded Taybe Yusein of Bulgaria in the 1/4 bout, meaning Sonam's Tokyo 2020 campaign came to an end.
Earlier in the day, the Indian men's hockey team suffered a defeat at the hands of Belgium in the men's semi-final, while Javelin thrower Annu Rani also failed to qualify for the women's final after finishing at the 14th spot in Qualification Group A and 29th overall.