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After early loss, Vinesh Phogat has shot at bronze medal in repechage
Fresh from winning the Commonwealth Games gold, the 53kg wrestler lost in the qualification round but her hopes have been revived as her victor has reached the final
Vinesh Phogat tamely lost to Khulan Batkhuyag in the 53kg qualification round at the world championships in Belgrade but her fortunes were revived as the Mongolian entered the final on Tuesday.
Vinesh will have a shot at the bronze medal in the repechage round on Wednesday. Given the way she caved in 7-0 against Asian silver medallist Batkhuyag, Vinesh will need to raise her game. The Indian, who has a bronze from the 2019 edition, could not pose any serious challenge as Batkhuyag controlled the bout from the start and finished it with a four-point throw. The loss would rankle as Vinesh is looking to revive her career after a disastrous Tokyo Olympics, where the top seed was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
Vinesh will have to win three repechage rounds for the bronze. She will face Eshimova in the first bout. If she wins, she will meet Azerbaijan's Leyla Gurbanova provided the latter turns up after injury on Tuesday, and then battle it out for the bronze against junior world champion Emma Malmgren of Sweden, who lost in the semi-final.
Only last month, Vinesh tasted international success again in Birmingham, winning her third straight Commonwealth Games gold medal. She then defeated U-20 world champion Antim Panghal in the selection trials, ending talk that the youngster would prove a handful for the seasoned Vinesh, who won the bout 7-0. But then her biggest test was the world championships, and the signs were not encouraging.
Batkhuyag, 23, five years younger to Vinesh, won the Asian Championships this year and is one of the emerging stars in the weight class. A passive Vinesh lost a point on the activity clock in the first period before Batkhuyag made it 3-0 with a takedown. Vinesh just could not mount any purposeful attacks. Towards the end, Batkhuyag added four points, driving Vinesh down to the mat.
Batkhuyag then defeated Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan 3-0 and Azerbaijan’s Leyla Gurbanova (4-1), who retired with a shoulder injury. In the semi-final, Batkhuyag was trailing 0-6 to Malmgren when she dramatically pinned the Sweden wrestler to clinch her final berth.
Women’s wrestling coach Jitender Yadav said Vinesh did not recover well after reducing weight. It has always been a challenge with her. Even before the Olympics, she had spoken of how at times during a bout she feels dizzy due to recovery issues after cutting weight.
“Maintaining her weight in this category (53kg) is a bit of a problem and she just could not recover from the weight reduction,” Yadav said. “From the next time we have to see that she maintains her weight at a level where she doesn’t have to cut 4-5 kg before competition.”
After the CWG, the federation had allowed wrestlers to appear in the trials without reducing weight as the competitions were close. “Vinesh was also competing against this girl (Batkhuyag) for the first time. Her rival was in full control and never allowed Vinesh any chance.”
Yadav, however, feels Vinesh is still on a comeback trail and needs some more time to start winning at the highest level. “She was devastated after the Olympics and it has taken a lot for her to pick up from there. In the last six-seven months she has shown a positive attitude to prepare.”
In 50kg, Neelam defeated Szimonetta Timea Szeker of Hungary 4-2 in qualification but bowed out in the next round against Emilia Alina Vuc of Romania 10-0. In 55kg, Mariana Dragutan beat Sushma Shokeen 6-8 in repechage. France's Koumba Larroque beat Shafali via technical superiority (10-0) in the 65kg qualification round. Priyanka also lost 10-0 against Genesis Rosangela of Ecuador in the 76kg division.
