Asian Games: In ‘Olympics Part 2’, Vinesh Emerges Victorious
Her Olympic dreams may have been crushed way too early in 2016, but it did change Vinesh Phogat's life around.
Vinesh Phogat. (Photo Credit: Getty Images)
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Her Olympic dreams may have been crushed way too early in 2016, but it did change Vinesh Phogat's life around. The freak knee injury in her bout against China’s Sun Yanan had done enough damage to leave her in trauma. But it made her realize the importance of things like rest, nutrition and sleep. “I used to think earlier that if I practice hard enough, then I don’t need to worry about anything else,” she’d said before the Asian Games.
But had she continued to follow that mantra, we wouldn’t have got to see Vinesh 2.0 on Monday morning in her opening bout against Yanan. The 50kg Freestyle grappler was fearless to start with, taking an early lead. But most importantly, she was wrestling smartly, not once allowing the Chinese to get to her legs, the memories of Rio perhaps still fresh in her mind. In what was a sensational move in the first round, Vinesh pinned her opponent down aggressively, the Indian took a massive 8 point lead, and there was little Sun Yanan could do to answer.
The route to a medal, and a gold at that, is not easy. Vinesh will have the world champion from Japan, Yuki Irei, to tackle. But her stellar show against Yanan will give the kind of confidence boost that beating no other opponent would give her. Interestingly, Vinesh had gone down to the Chinese in the Pro Wrestling League too.
Meanwhile, Pooja Dhanda also qualified for the quarter-final of the women's 57kg freestyle wrestling category by beating Sookdongyor Orasa of Thailand.
But had she continued to follow that mantra, we wouldn’t have got to see Vinesh 2.0 on Monday morning in her opening bout against Yanan. The 50kg Freestyle grappler was fearless to start with, taking an early lead. But most importantly, she was wrestling smartly, not once allowing the Chinese to get to her legs, the memories of Rio perhaps still fresh in her mind. In what was a sensational move in the first round, Vinesh pinned her opponent down aggressively, the Indian took a massive 8 point lead, and there was little Sun Yanan could do to answer.
The route to a medal, and a gold at that, is not easy. Vinesh will have the world champion from Japan, Yuki Irei, to tackle. But her stellar show against Yanan will give the kind of confidence boost that beating no other opponent would give her. Interestingly, Vinesh had gone down to the Chinese in the Pro Wrestling League too.
Meanwhile, Pooja Dhanda also qualified for the quarter-final of the women's 57kg freestyle wrestling category by beating Sookdongyor Orasa of Thailand.