In the Indian scenario, Phogat sisters have battered all stereotypes to take up wrestling and make it big on the field mostly dominated by male athletes, which eventually garnered much attention to even made a Bollywood film on them. Vinesh Phogat had a spectacular career so far, acquiring gold medals in Commonwealth Games as well as Asian Games but have faced a medal-draught in case of World Championships after three powerful attempts.
On Wednesday, Vinesh Phogat finally managed a berth at the Tokyo Olympics by defeating World No. 1 Sarah Hildebrandt in the World Wrestling Championships held at Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan under the 53kg category. After defeating the American opponent Hildebrandt for 8-2 in the second repechage round she secured a place at the Tokyo Games.
In the first round of repechage Vinesh stormed to a 5-0 win over Ukraine’s Yuliya Khalvadzhy to stay alive in the contest for an Olympic quota and a bronze medal. Her next fight is scheduled against Greece’s Maria Prevolaraki in the bronze-medal bout. This will mark her maiden medal debut in the World Championships.
Apart from Vinesh, Seema Bisla under the 50kg category, defeated Nigeria’s Miesinnei Mercy Genesis in the first repechage, but collapsed in the second repechage round by 11-3 against Russia’s Ekaterina Poleshchuk, thus, getting knocked out. On the other hand, 59kg contestant, Pooja Dhanda advanced to the semi-finals after defeating Japan’s Yuzuka Inagaki by 8-7.
Pooja had previously made her intensions clear last year winning the bronze medal in Budapest. Based on technical supiriority she defeated Katsiaryna Hanchar by technical superiority in her pre-quarterfinal and about to face Russian Liubov Ovcharova to have her 2nd medal at the Worlds which only Bajrang Punia have achieved so far.
