A women wrestler with Commonwealth games and Asian games glory but no World Championship medal at hand for the past 4 years. With Rio Olympics(2016) exit memory still fresh, she now has a World Championship(2019) Bronze medal and Tokyo 2020 Olympics ticket at hand. She is Vinesh Phogat.
Vinesh Phogat has a history of wrestling in her family. She herself is wrestling since 12 years of age. She has won many glories to the country including the 2014 Commonwealth Games Gold medal. All was going well till she falls down on the mat, crying in pain, suffering a knee injury and shattering her Rio Olympics medal hopes. It was the same year she was awarded the Arjuna Award for her past glories and being one of the top contenders at the Rio Olympics. Moving on from that and recovering from the injury, the went on to compete in the Commonwealth games and the Asian games, both in 2018, to become first women wrestler to win Gold in both Commonwealth games and Asian games. She was also awarded Padma Shri in 2018.
In 2019, Vinesh has won a medal at every tournament she has participated in this year. She also became the first Indian athlete to be nominated for Laureus World Sports Award. Due to medal-less run in three World Championships before, Vinesh shifted from 50 kg to 53kg freestyle weight category and started a new diet and training regime to focus on 2019 World Championship. Her personal coach, Woller Akos, helped her to strategize the tournament on strengths and weaknesses of herself and her opponents. The World Championship this year was organized in Nur-sultan, Kazakhstan. She was defeated by Japan's Mayu Mukaida by 0-7, in the pre-quarterfinal. Then she got her two wins against Ukraine's Yulia Blahinya, winning by 5-0 and against USA's Sarah Hildebrandt, winning by 8-2. Vinesh was seen at her best against Hildebrandt, currently world no.1, with more control during the second repechage round, superlative defense and immense upper-body strength. this two wins booked her the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ticket. In the bronze medal match, Phogat produced one moment of undoubted brilliance with a fall by pinning her Greek opponent Maria Prevolaraki to win her first world championship medal and only the 5th Indian female wrestler to win a medal at the World Championship.After winning, an emotional Vinesh said,"Whatever I left in Rio, I will take in Tokyo. I am doing my best and we will see what happens".
Having a total of 5 gold, 2 silver, and 4 bronze, Vinesh is looking forward to the Tokyo Olympics just as we do and we hope and look forward to see her winning her maiden Olympic medal.
