Vinesh Phogat of India made history on Wednesday at the World Wrestling Championships in Belgrade by becoming the first Indian wrestler to take home several medals at the prestigious competition. She won the bronze medal after defeating Emma Malmgren of Sweden 8-0.
It was her second World Championships medal. She previously took the bronze in the 2019 competition. The first Indian female wrestler to take home two awards at the World Championships is Vinesh, a three-time Commonwealth Games champion.
Vinesh made a stunning recovery following her shocking loss against Mongolia’s Khulan Batkhuyag, who won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Championships, in the qualifying round. At the end of the first round, the Indian wrestler was down 3-0 against Batkhuyag, and she gave up another four points in the waning seconds to lose the match.
By winning her subsequent matches, Khulan Batkhuyag quickly advanced to the final, allowing Vinesh a chance to capture the bronze. Vinesh’s path to the medal, however, was not simple as she had to get through three bouts in the repechage round.
The bronze medal gave her more confidence after she lost shockingly to Khulan Batkhuyag of Mongolia to start her campaign. She scarcely fought in her first match, which Batkhuyag won 7-0. Later, Vinesh would express gratitude to Batkhuyag for helping the Mongolian get to the final, which gave Vinesh a chance to win a bronze medal through a repechage.
In just 74 seconds, Vinesh defeated 2022 Senior Asian Championship bronze medalist Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan in her first repechage match. After scoring her first points with a takedown, she finished the match by pinning her Kazakh opponent to the mat 20 seconds later.
Then, Vinesh received a stroke of luck when Leyla Gurbanova of Azerbaijan withdrew from their second-round repechage match due to injury. It opened the way for Vinesh, who was now just a medal away from winning a second Worlds medal.
The Indian appeared to be the aggressor right away as she quickly built a 2-0 lead and assumed control of the fight. The 2021 Junior World Champion Malmgren was unable to escape Vinesh’s hold on her left arm, and the Indian dug in hard to get the takedown.
Vinesh appeared to have damaged her knee, which caused a small injury worry, but she ignored it. She displayed a strong defense while playing the waiting game.
Vinesh received a verbal warning from the referee early in the second half for being too passive, which motivated the Indian to make an explosive move and score two more points to make it 4-0. It demonstrated that Vinesh could be able to score at will.
Before rolling over Malmgren to take the lead 6-0, she purposely slowed down the pace again. Vinesh’s fight was well-planned tactically; she didn’t give her opponent much of a chance. Vinesh finally broke into her signature smile after scoring two more points on a takedown to seal the victory.
The bronze medal meant a lot to a wrestler who had lost interest in the sport and had thought about quitting. She had just won her third gold medal in a row at the Commonwealth Games, but the competition in the Worlds is considerably tougher.
Earlier in the evening, Nisha Dahiya fought bravely but was defeated in the women’s 68kg semifinal by Japan’s junior world champion Ami Ishii. On Thursday, Nishi will compete for the bronze medal.
Ishii gained the lead inside the first 20 seconds and maintained it till the intermission. The hooter saved Nisha, who was in serious trouble since Ishii had her trapped in a double ankle grip just as the buzzer went off.
Early in the second quarter, Nisha scored two more points for exposure, and Ishii scored one for a reversal as the Indian team maintained a 4-3 advantage. Four minutes had been spent under Nisha’s control, but the final two belonged to the Japanese wrestler.
Ishii secured two points after a takedown to go up 5-4 and then defeat Nishi. The Indian coaches shouted at her to encourage her “30 seconds, 30 seconds, 50 seconds, niklega! (With 50 seconds left, 30 seconds remaining, and you will locate the opportunity.) “However, Nishi was unable to breach Ishii’s defense, thus it was not to be.
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