Vinesh Phogat started her World Championship campaign with a commanding 13-0 win in the opening round over Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson in 53 kg on Tuesday.
Vinesh took an early 4-0 lead over Mattsson, who is also a six-time World Championship medal winner, with her attacks. She then finally took a huge 13-0 lead over Mattsson in the dying seconds of the bout when she pushed Mattsson out of the mat. However, Mattsson challenged referee’s decision but lost it as Vinesh had her foot inside the line.
However, in the second round, Vinesh had eventually lost to two-time World Champion Mayu Mukaida of Japan in the quarters. With Mayu entering in the finals, Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday became the first Indian wrestler to secure an Olympic quota for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Vinesh Phogat had earlier achieved much in her career. She clinched a gold medal in 50kg freestyle. The two-time Commonwealth Games champion wrestler was top notch in her approach and defeated Japan’s Irie Yuki to get hold of the yellow metal.
Irie Yuki was nowhere close to posing a serious threat to Vinesh Phogat and hence she ended up losing to Vinesh. Interestingly, this is Vinesh Phogat’s maiden Asian Games gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. While it has been a spectacular career for Vinesh with gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, none of her three attempts at the world championship resulted in a podium.
