Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Paris: India grappler Vinesh Phogat continued to soar high at the Paris Olympics after pulling off a dominating win over Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez in the women's 50kg wrestling semi-finals.
Following a flawless outing on the mat, Vinesh became the first Indian to reach the Olympic final in women's wrestling. She waved her hand towards the crowd for their unwavering support after confirming India's fourth medal at the Paris Olympics.
Vinesh adopted an aggressive approach in the opening minutes of the bout. But the Cuban grappler stood firm with her defensive approach and didn't allow Vinesh to take away any point.
Guzman Lopez was handed a passivity warning and had thirty seconds to score a point. Vinesh didn't give her much of an opening and took the first point in the semi-final bout.
The Indian grappler maintained the slender one-point lead in the second half. She showed her aggression and managed to get Lopez in her grip. She turned her around and took a 5-0 lead. Towards the end, Lopez tried to turn things around with one final surge. Vinesh deflected the attacks that were thrown her way and stormed into the final to fight for gold.
Earlier in the day, Vinesh starred in the quarter-finals against Tokyo 2020 champion Yui Susaki of Japan.
Susaki was leading 1-0 at the end of the first period, but Vinesh made a brilliant turnaround in the second period, outdoing her Japanese opponent by miles to secure a 3-2 win to make way to the quarter-finals. She handed the Japanese wrestler her first defeat in 82 international matches.
In the quarter-finals against Ukraine's Oksana Livach, Vinesh took a lead of 2-0 in the first period. However, Oksana managed to deliver a fight in the second period. But Vinesh, the World Championships medalist held off the challenge from Ukrainian and secured a semi-final berth.
