Punjab Newsline, Chandigarh, August 7-
Vinesh Phogat defied huge odds to assure herself of a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics by reaching the final in the women’s 50kg wrestling event on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old Vinesh Phogat also became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympic final in wrestling.Vinesh stormed into the women’s 50kg final on the back of three stunning wins. She defeated reigning Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba in the semi-finals after getting the better of former European champion Oksana Livach of Ukraine in the quarter-finals.
In her opening match, Vinesh Phogat pulled off a colossal upset against the reigning Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan. In the semi-final, both Vinesh and Yusneylis started defensively but the Indian wrestler was awarded a point for Yusneylis’s passivity and ended the first period with a slender one-point lead.
Both wrestlers continued to be on guard at the start of the second period. However, Vinesh, in danger of conceding a point on passivity, executed two takedowns to lead 5-0. Vinesh held on to her lead in the final 30 seconds to make it the final of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Today Vinesh will take on USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt, for the gold.