India's Anshu Malik lost her repechage bout at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday, while Vinesh Phogat lost her quarterfinal contest later in the day.
Anshu lost 5-1 on points to Valeria Koblova of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the repechage bout of the women's 57kg freestyle division, ending her hopes of contesting the bronze medal match. Vinesh, meanwhile, lost to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus, who pinned down the Indian 9-3 to achieve victory by fall to advance to the semifinals of the women's 53kg freestyle division.
Kaladzinskaya began strongly against Vinesh, who was the overwhelming favourite in the contest. The Belarusian effected a gut wrench takedown to make it 2-0. The Indian responded immediately to level the bout 2-2, but Kaladzinskaya was back on the offensive right away, quickly pulling ahead 5-2 by the end of the first three-minute period.
In the second period, Vinesh tried going for the attack but Kaladzinskaya defended well to prevent the Indian from rolling her. The Belarusian then turned defence into attack to extend her lead to 7-2. The Indian camp then won a challenge to cut the deficit to 7-3. Vinesh then attacked again and once more, Kaladzinskaya counterattacked and executed a takedown to go ahead 9-3 with a minute to go.
Kaladzinskaya then stamped out any hopes of a Vinesh comeback by pinning the Indian for a victory by fall.
In Anshu's bout, the first three-minute period was a relatively quiet one, as neither wrestler was able to gain an edge. However, Koblova, who won silver in the 58kg at the Rio Olympics and silver at the 2014 World Championships, went up 1-0 at the end of the period after Anshu was docked a point for passivity.
In the second period, Anshu pushed Koblova off the mat to make it 1-1. With a minute to go, it appeared to be the Indian's bout, but with about 45 seconds to go, Koblova dove for Anshu's leg. The Indian battled hard in defence to keep her opponent from gaining the edge, but Koblova eventually managed a couple of takedowns to make it 5-1 and advance to the bronze medal match.
Earlier on Thursday, Vinesh won her round-of-16 bout comfortably, beating Sofia Mattsson of Sweden 7-1 to enter the last eight. Her bout was marked by her ability to turn defence into attack and counterattack. Vinesh began with one such counterattack to quickly go up 2-0. She then executed another takedown to double her lead.
The scoreboard pressure forced Mattsson to go on the attack, but Vinesh again managed to fend her off. Mattsson tried to go for Vinesh's leg but the Indian turned it on her opponent to make it 5-0. She then went on the attack herself to start the second period, effecting a gut wrench takedown to make it 7-0. Towards the end, Mattsson scored one technical point to get on the scoreboard.
Later on Thursday, Ravi Kumar Dahiya will contest the men's 57kg gold medal match against Zavur Uguev of ROC, followed by Deepak Punia in the men's 86kg bronze medal match against Artur Naifanov of ROC.