Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat scripted history on August 6 as she reached the final of women's freestyle 50 kg wrestling at Paris Olympics 2024. Phogat beat Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman by 5-0 in the semifinal as she continued her dominant run at Champ-de-Mars Arena. After reaching the final, the organisers arranged a video call with her mother where she said “Gold lana hai! Gold (I will bring gold medal)".
During the video call, she blew flying kisses to her family members. The 29-year-old was emotional as tears rolled down her cheeks seeing her family celebrate the historic win.
Vinesh has assured India of their fourth medal at the Paris Olympics. So far, Indian shooters have won three bronze medals.
In the Olympic history, no Indian woman wrestler has won a silver medal. Only Sakshi Malik has a bronze medal which she won in Rio Olympics 2016. In men wrestling, Sushil Kumar and Vijay Kumar Dahiya won silver medal in 2012 London Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics respectively.
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Coach explains how Vinesh defied odds
Earlier, Vinesh beat Japan's Yui Susaki who had not lost a single bout at international stage before August 6. Then, she beat Ukraine's Livach 7-5 in the quarterfinal. Her Droanacharya Awardee coach Mahavir Phogat explained how the strategy was made to beat the near-invincible.
"The Japanese girl was a very good fighter who had never lost to anyone on the mat and as I said the one winning this match would be a contender for the gold medal and that is something Vinesh has done with her grit and spirit," Mahavir told PTI Video.
"Vinesh defended and attacked well and also balanced herself well against her leg strategy and dragged her into the danger zone and pinned her down.
"I told Harvinder who is with her to watch out for the Japanese opponent's leg attack strategy so you have to defend well in the first round and that is what she did, so I am glad she won and the whole nation is proud of her."
Vinesh will now face USA's Sarah Ann Hildebrandt in the final on August 7.
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