Sanju Devi, Saneh, Bhateri enter semi-finals of Wrestling Junior World Championships

Ufa: A tenacious Sanju Devi (62kg) and a confident Saneh (72kg) entered the semi-finals of the junior wrestling world championships while Bhateri also joined them in the last-four stage, taking advantage of a favourable draw, on Thursday. She may not look athletic but Sanju was quick with her moves and reflexes as she beat Germany’s Lusia Schrel 5-2 and then erased a 0-3 deficit to edge past Croatia’s Iva Geric 4-3 in the quarter-finals. Saneh hardly had any problem in dispatching Kseniya Patapovich of Belarus 6-2 in her opening round and remained untroubled against Mongolia’s Tsogzolmaa Dorjsuren, winning 7-0. Saneh’s four-pointer on a double-leg attack stood out. In other matches involving Indian girls, Pinki (53kg) made a promising start to lead 5-4 and 7-6 with a terrific four-point throw but Turkey’s Emine Cakmak never looked jittery as she pulled off timely take-down moves to snatch the bout with a 12-7 scoreline. Mansi, competing in 57kg category, began with a confident 16-4 win over American Claire Marie Dicugno but was outplayed by Turkey’s Elvira Kamaloglu 1-9 in the quarter-finals. Elvira effected two stunning four-pointer counter-attacks to pull away.