Vinesh Phogat assured of medal, 1st Indian woman into Olympic wrestling final

Vinesh Phogat became the first ever Indian woman to reach the wrestling finals in the Olympics on Tuesday, 6 August.

Playing her semi-final bout late in the evening, Vinesh beat Cuba’s Lopez Guzman to ensure a medal for her in Paris. Vinesh was cautious from the start against her Cuban opponent, much like her bout against the Japanese medal contender. She got a hold of Guzman’s leg at the very start of the bout which put the Cuban under pressure in the starting minutes. Despite exerting pressure, Vinesh was not able to win any points in the first 2 minutes of the match. Guzman, who was quite cautious as well, was handed a penalty at the 2-minute mark in the first round for passivity, losing one point. Vinesh piled on the pressure from there on and stayed on top of Guzman.

After Guzman was forced to get onto the attack, Vinesh opted for an ultra-defensive approach. Vinesh was handed a warning for passivity and that brought out the best in her. She got a hold of Guzman’s right leg and twisted her to get a 5-0 lead. Vinesh kept her cool for the remainder of the bout and pulled off a rather clean win in the semi-finals.

Earlier in the day, Vinesh Phogat knocked out reigning champion Yui Susaki of Japan in one of the biggest upset stories of Paris Olympics on Tuesday, August 6. The Indian wrestler beat top seed Yui 3-2 in the Round of 16 to progress to the quarter-final of the women’s 50kg category.

Vinesh Phogat defeated Yui Susaki, who did not concede a single point en route to her Tokyo Olympics Gold. Before Tuesday, Yui had lost only three matches in her entire career and Vinesh handed her the Japanese wrestler’s fourth. In fact, Vinesh Phogat became the first wrestler to hand a defeat to Yui at the international level.

Vinesh will now face USA’s Ann Sarah Hildebrant in the final of the competition. Hildebrant beat Otgonjargal Dolgorjav 5-0 in her semi-final bout on Tuesday.