File photo of Nisha Dahiya.
By Amanpreet Singh
It was a "perfect and happy ending" for Nisha Dahiya as she emerged national champion in the women's 65kg category, a day after her dramatic "murder story" turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.
The title clash ended in just 30 seconds with Nisha, the U23 world championship bronze medallist, pinning her rival Jaspreet Kaur from Punjab.
Except for her semifinal against Haryana's Priyanka, it turned out to be an easy day in the office for the 23-year-old Nisha, who represents Railways.
"It indeed is a happy and perfect end to my campaign. I was so stressed yesterday. I could not even sleep. I was already low on energy due to weight cut and this incident just proved too much to handle," Nisha told PTI after winning her third gold medal at the Nationals.
It was reported that Nisha had been shot dead in Sonepat but later it came to light that the deceased was her name sake and an upcoming wrestler. Nisha's agility and attacking moves were too hot to handle for her opponents. She stood out with her leg attacks.
"Of course, an athlete wants to be discussed and talked about but I am sure not in this way. I want people to know for my performance and not for such freak incidents," she said.
"I got so many calls that I had to switch off my phone. It was becoming tense and I wanted to stay focussed on my competition. Eventually, it did not affect my performance," said Nisha, who is coached by Arjuna awardee Satyawart Kadian.
Shafali and Priyanka, expectedly, won bronze medals by winning their respective play-offs. If groomed well, both the youngsters are expected to be good prospects for India in future.
Before the final, both the 65kg semifinals were fast-paced and furiously fought. Jaspreet edged out Haryana's Shafali 6-4 while Nisha prevailed 7-6 against Priyanka.
In the women's 76kg event, 37-year-old Gursharanpreet Kaur won the gold medal after her rival Pooja Sihag left the mat in tears after twisting her right arm when the Punjab wrestler made a move on counter-attack. The match ended in the first period itself.
It was the seventh gold medal for Gursharanpreet at the Nationals. The 76kg category seemed headed for a title clash between familiar names -- veteran Kiran and Gursharanpreet, but Pooja prevented that with her 3-1 win over the Railways player.
Gursharanpreet, on the other hand, had an easy win by fall against Bipasha, a talented Delhi youngster, who had won a silver medal at the junior world championship recently. Bipasha and Kiran won bronze medals.
Competition for women was held only in two categories on Thursday while the Greco Style event concluded on the opening day of the championship.
Services' Sandeep claimed title in the 55kg ahead of Chandigarh's Sarvan while Gyanendra, also from SSCB, became champion in 60kg with a win over Haryana's Vikas.
Sagar gave Services their third gold in 63kg while Haryana's Ashu won the 67kg title. Vikas from Haryana won the 72kg gold by beating Punjab's Lovepreet.
Expectedly, Services' Sajan won the 77kg title and Hardeep Singh emerged winner in the 82kg.
Services team won the team championship with 195 points while Railways (175) was runner-up. Haryana finished third with 139 points.
The two finalists in each category will represent India at the Commonwealth Championship, scheduled to be held in Pretoria, South Africa from December 3-5.
While the gold medal winner will travel at the government's expense, the runner-up will have to go on his own. The WFI may ask for trials in men's freestyle 92kg since Deepak Punia, who skipped the Nationals due to an injury, has expressed interest in competing.
