Vinesh Phogat wins gold in Ukraine Wrestling tournament
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat made a golden comeback after Corona. A year later, Vinesh entered the ring to win the gold medal in the ongoing Outstanding Ukrainian Wrestlers and Coch Memorial tournament in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. She defeated former World Champion Vanessa Kalinskaya in the final. Vinesh was trailing 6-8 during the match, but in the last 35 seconds she turned the game over scoring 4 points to score the win.
Vinesh, who was awarded the Khel Ratna in the finals of the 53kg weight category event, defeated the 2017 World Champion and World No. 7 Kalinskaya of Belarus 10-8.
Vinesh had to skip in the middle of a bout due to a leg fracture at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She remained on bed rest for 6 months. Could not exercise, so she continued to strengthen herself mentally. She worked hard to win gold in the Commonwealth and Asiad in 2018.
Vinesh Phogat 🥇
So much self belief in that bout from Vinesh. Once her inside trip didn’t work, she defends the attack and completes her own to win the gold with a fall pic.twitter.com/eXIIE8D9vp
— Vinay Siwach (@siwachvinay) February 28, 2021
Winning the Bronze medal at the World Senior Championship in 2019, confirmed the ticket to Tokyo Olympics.
Vinesh defeated Romania’s Ana A 2–0 in the semi-finals on Saturday. She defeated Lulia Leorda in the Round of-16 and Katsiyarina Pichkoskaya in the quarter-finals. She has been training in Europe since November 2020. In the lockdown, Vinesh was practicing in her village in Haryana.
Before reaching the finals, Vinesh had played strong in the quarter-finals and pre-quarter-finals. The Asian and Commonwealth Games gold medalist defeated Romania’s Ana A 2–0 in the semi-finals. Vinesh landed in the ring after a year of staying away from the game due to Corona epidemic and lockdown. Now, after winning the final, Phogat will go on to compete in the first ranked tournament of this season to be held in Rome from 4-7 March.
Vinesh Phogat was also infected with Corona. Her report came positive just a day before she received the Khel Ratna Award on the occasion of National Sports Day. Her first coach OP Dahiya was also found infected with Corona, who was selected for the Dronacharya Award.
History was created by winning gold medal
The 26-year-old female wrestler, a Commonwealth Games gold medalist, set a record by winning a gold medal in the 50kg category of the 18th Asian Games wrestling competition. She became the first female wrestler to win two consecutive Asiad medals. Vinesh won a bronze in the Incheon Asian Games. In addition, she has won silver at the 2018 Asian Championships and gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
