Indian wrestler Anshu Malik, who is taking part in her first Olympics at the ongoing Tokyo 2020, has a shot at the bronze medal despite losing her opening round match against Belarus' Iryna Kurachkina. The Bulgarian, who is also World Cup gold medallist and double Worlds medallist, secured a comprehensive 8-2 win over the Indian in the 57kg category. 


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However, Anshu, who will be celebrating her 20th birthday on Thursday (August 5), has a shot at making it memorable as she will be competing for a bronze medal because of the repechage rule in wrestling. 



What is repechage?   


The bronze medalists in wrestling are decided after the repechage round, which basically allows a wrestler a second chance, if they went down against either one of the finalists. 


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How does the rule work? 


If a wrestler loses against an opponent, who marches on to become a finalist in his/her respective category, they are allowed to play for bronze medals and compete in repechage matches. 


# The wrestlers are divided in two groups - one consists of players who went down against the first finalist & another group which lost against the second finalist. 


# The matches start with the losing wrestlers, who were defeated by either of the two finalists right from the opening round to losing semi-finalists, and the outcome results in direct elimination. 


# As per the rules, the loser of the opening round will take on the loser of the next round. For example the loser of the round of 16 will take against the loser of quarterfinal. The winner will advance to the next round. However, a wrestler, who went down in the semifinal, automatically qualifies for the bronze medal match and takes on the winner, who comes through the repechage rounds.  


Who will Anshu Malik compete against in repechage round? 


Anshu Malik will take on Russian Olympic Committee's Valeria Koblova, who lost 3-6 against Iryna Kurachkina. The winner of the match will take on Bulgaria's Evelina Georgieva, who faced a crushing 11-0 loss in her semi-final bout.  


What time does Anshu Malik's repechage round match start? 


Anshu Malik's repechage round match against Russian Olympic Committee's Valeria Koblova will be played around 07:45 am in the morning.  


India's record at repechage 


India has so far made the most of the repechage round in wrestling at the Olympics, which has given the country three medals in the past. In 2016, the previous edition of Olympics held in Rio, Sakshi Malik secured a bronze, while in 2008 and 2012 Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt also clinched their respective Olympic medals, coming through a similar process. 


Semifinalist in wrestling vs semifinalist in boxing 


While a semifinalist in boxing is assured of a bronze medal, the same doesn't apply in wrestling because of the the repechage rule.