X’ian: Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat clinched a bronze in her new 53kg weight category at the Asian Wrestling Championships here on Friday. Vinesh has moved up to a higher category from 50kg in which she had won a gold in the Jakarta Asian Games, after rejig of weight classes by the world governing body for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She had competed in 53kg at the UWW Dan Kolov-Nikola Petrov tourney in Bulgaria last month and won a silver medal.
Vinesh had a disappointing start as she lost to Mayu Mukaida of Japan, who came through the qualification round. The Japanese was declared a 10-0 winner in a victory by technical superiority verdict. But since her opponent reached the final, Vinesh featured in the repechage round where she beat Jo Cih Chiu of Taipei in a 6-0 victory by fall verdict. In the bronze medal play-off, Vinesh beat Qianyu Pang of China 8-1.