India's Tanu Sharma won the bronze medal in the women's 72kg freestyle category at the Senior World Wrestling Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Thursday, defeating Precious Bell of the United States 9-5 in the bronze-medal bout, IANS reported.

Source: IANS

The medal came on Sharma's senior World Championships debut. The 20-year-old had earlier this year won silver at the U20 World Championships, and she carried that junior form onto the senior stage in Astana, according to MyKhel's report of the championships.

Source: MyKhel

Repechage route to the podium

Sharma's path to bronze went through the repechage. After losing her pre-quarterfinal 12-2 to Poland's Wiktoria Choluj on Wednesday, she returned on Thursday to beat Tunisia's Zaineb Sghaier 5-4 in the repechage and set up the bronze bout against Bell, MyKhel reported. Bell, the reigning Pan American champion, was beaten 9-5 as Sharma held off a late American comeback.

Source: MyKhel

KhelNow also reported the 9-5 bronze-medal win over Bell, noting that Sharma is among a strong group of Indian women on the podium at this edition of the championships. China's Li Zelu took the 72kg gold and Choluj, the wrestler who beat Sharma in the pre-quarterfinal, took silver, according to the championships' published results.

Source: KhelNow

Sharma's bronze adds to India's women's tally in Astana, where Kajal Dhochak and Neelam Sirohi won silver medals on Wednesday and Manisha Bhanwala will wrestle for the 59kg gold on Friday.