Vinesh Phogat won her last bout of women's freestyle 53 kg (Nordic) category with ease to win India's fifth gold in the sport at Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2022. Vinesh beat Sri Lanka's Chamodya Keshani Maduravalage Don to complete a hat-trick of CWG gold medals. She won the bout in two minutes and 24 seconds.
Earlier, the 27-year-old beat Nigeria's Mercy Bolafunoluwa Adekuroye 6-0 followed by a victory by fall against Canadian Samantha Stewart. The fight against Stewart was expected to be the toughest one as she won bronze medal in this year's World Championship.
She also became the first Indian female athlete to win consecutive gold medals in three editions of CWG.
In what was expected to be a tough opener against world championship bronze medallist Samantha Leigh Stewart, Vinesh reduced it to a no contest and finished it in mere 36 seconds.
Vinesh had the Canadian in a head lock from where she pushed her on the mat and in no time pinned her rival.
Even before people could warm up to the contest, it was all over.
Next up for the 27-year-old Vinesh was Nigeria's Mercy Bolafunoluwa Adekuoroye, who tried to resist a bit but soon the Indian had her in an iron grip. Vinesh kept her in that position for more than a minute in a magnificent show of power, winning 6-0.
With only four wrestlers in the women's 53kg draw, Vinesh now needed to beat Sri Lanka's Chamodya Keshani Maduravlage Don and she did it in style, winning 'by fall' to clinch her third successive gold.
Vinesh has been struggling for form and fitness ever since her defeat at the Tokyo Games, where she made a shock first-round exit after entering the field as the hot favourite for the gold medal.
