Vinesh Phogat wins bronze, becomes first woman wrestler to clinch two medals at World Wrestling Championships

It
was
a
remarkable
comeback
for
Vinesh
after
her
shock
qualification
round
defeat
as
she
beat
Malmgren
8-0
in
the
bronze
medal
round.
She
had
made
it
to
the
bronze
play-off
through
the
repechage
round
after
losing
to
Khulan
Batkhuyag
of
Mongolia,
the
2022
Asian
championships
silver
medallist,
in
her
first
bout
on
Tuesday.

Vinesh,
a
triple
Commonwealth
Games
champion,
made
it
to
the
repechage
round
after
Batkhuyag
reached
the
final.
In
the
repechage
round,
Vinesh
first
beat
Zhuldyz
Eshimova
of
Kazakhstan
in
a
Victory
by
Fall
(4-0)
decision
and
then
won
the
next
bout
after
her
opponent
Leyla
Gurbanova
of
Azerbaijan
did
not
turn
up
due
to
injury
to
advance
to
the
bronze
medal
round.

Fresh
from
winning
gold
in
India’s
stupendous
12-medal
winning
show
at
the
CWG
Birmingham,
the
10th
seeded
Vinesh
looked
jaded
and
lost
her
balance
in
the
final
seconds
to
be
pinned
by
the
Asian
silver
medallist
in
the
women’s
freestyle
53kg.

Batkhuyag
took
a
3-0
lead
in
the
first
period
before
slamming
the
former
world
bronze
medallist
backwards
to
the
mat
in
the
final
seconds
to
take
four
points
and
complete
a
dominating
win.
Incidentally,
Indian
junior
wrestler
Antim,
who
was
knocked
out
by
Vinesh
in
the
selection
trials,
had
beaten
the
Mongolian
at
the
U-23
Asian
meet
earlier
last
month.

In
the
absence
of
former
silver
medallist
Anshu
Malik,
Vinesh
was
a
strong
medal
favourite
as
she
also
got
a
favourable
draw
after
the
pullout
of
reigning
champion
and
Japanese
sensation
Akari
Fujinami
(injury).
However,
she
was
knocked
out
in
the
qualifications.

India
had
more
disappointment
in
store
as
Neelam
Sirohi
lost
to
two-time
world
silver
medallist
Emilia
Alina
Vuc
of
Romania
0-10
via
technical
superiority
in
the
women’s
50kg.
French
wrestler
Koumba
Larroque,
who
was
fighting
with
a
highly
strapped
knee,
pinned
Shafali
with
technical
superiority
in
the
women’s
65kg.

(With
PTI
inputs)