Grapplers Vinesh, Anshu seal Paris Olympics quota
Vinesh, one of the main faces of the wrestlers’ protest last year, defeated Kazakhstan’s Laura Ganikyzy in the 50kg semifinal to inch closer to competing at her third straight Olympics.
Vinesh Phogat on Monday became the first woman wrestler from India to win a gold in the Asian Games. She defeated Japan’s Yuki Irie in the 50 kilogram women’s freestyle final played in Jakarta.
This was India’s second gold after wrestler Bajrang Punia bagged the yellow metal in men’s 65 kg category on Sunday. India is now on the seventh spot in the Asian Games medal tally with two golds, two silvers and one bronze.
Vinesh Phogat completely dominated the contest. After taking a 4-0 lead initially, she finished the game 6-2.
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The Indian has earlier beaten Irie in the Asian Championships semi-final earlier this year. On Monday, she started cautiously before pinning the Japanese opponent down to take four quick points.
Vinesh displayed some great defence as she held on to her 4-0 lead at the end of the first three minutes.
Her defence was deemed too passive by the referee and Vinesh had to concede one point, which reduced the deficit to 4-1 with 30 seconds to go.
However, the 2014 Incheon Asiad bronze medallist soon pocketed two more points and finally clinched the gold.
In her semi-final encounter against Daulatbike Yakshimuratova of Uzbekistan, Vinesh Phogat hardly broke a sweat as she won in mere 75 seconds by technical superiority (10-0).
Earlier, the Indian grappler had registered a comfortable 11-0 win over Kim Hyungjoo of South Korea in the quarter-finals, prior to which she had defeated China’s Sun Yanan 8-2 by technical superiority in the 1/8 finals.
(With IANS)
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