Celebrated Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat is making a strong comeback in the international arena after leading a prolonged protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and has closed the quota for the Paris Olympics in the women's 50kg category on Saturday with a strong showing at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Saturday. Also bagging their tickets for the Paris Olympics were Anshu Malik (57kg) and U23 world champion Reetika (76kg), who also reached the final of the tournament with solid performances.
India has now secured four quota places for the Paris Games as Antim Panghal had earned a quota in the 53kg category with her bronze medal-winning show at the World Championships last year.
It will be interesting to see whether WFI will let the quota winners represent India or hold a final selection trial to choose the national wrestling team.
At the Tokyo Games, India had fielded a strong team of seven wrestlers with four women: Seema Bisla (50kg), Vinesh (53kg), Anshu (57kg) and Sonam Malik (62kg).
No male wrestler has yet earned a quota. The last chance to win the Paris Games quota is during the World Qualifiers in Turkey from May 9.
29-year-old Vinesh has now secured her third Olympic quota in a row, having previously competed in the Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020) Games.
Vinesh put up a strong performance and defeated her opponents one by one.
After losing several months of training due to the prolonged protest against Brij Bhushan and the ongoing legal battle, it was a challenge for Vinesh to secure a quota and she did so, taking full advantage of an easy draw.
As is her wont, Vinesh looked for that one opportunity to submit Miran Cheon in her opening fight and took it after measuring her Korean rival for about 30 seconds.
Once she grabbed Cheon and pushed her down for a takedown, the fight ended in an instant, in one minute and 39 seconds.
It was difficult to get out of Vinesh's strong grip. The Indian used a gut wrench move three times and mixed that with one 'exposure' to end the fight.
The next fight lasted only 67 seconds. The Smanang Dit in Cambodia was easy prey. Vinesh managed to pin her in no time to advance to the semi-finals of the women's 50kg.
The celebrated Indian faced some resistance from 19-year-old Kazakh wrestler Laura Ganikyzy in the semi-finals, but she used all her experience to thwart her younger rival's attacks.
Twice Laura went for attacks with the left leg, but Vinesh scored on the counter and led 4-0 by the end of the first period. This was the first time that Vinesh was pushed to the second period in this tournament.
Once Vinesh got hold of Laura, she had no problem using consecutive wrench moves to end the fight.
Vinesh competed in the 50kg category after winning the selection trials.
The finalists of this competition will be awarded quota places for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
2021 World Championship silver medalist Anshu had no problem as he faced Kyrgyz Kalmira Bilimbekova in the quarterfinals and won by technical superiority.
Anshu, who also featured at the Tokyo Games, continued her impressive showing to win the semi-final against Uzbekistan's Laylokhov Soboirova by technical superiority. It was a quiet period, dictated by the Indian.
The U23 world champion Reetika didn't have to put in much effort to beat Eunju Hwang. She won the first round by technical superiority as the Korean had no answer to Reetika's class and recorded a similar victory against Mongolia's Davaanasan Enkh Amar.
In the final group battle against China's Juang Wang, Reetika raced to an 8-0 lead, but the Chinese fought back and recorded six straight points.
She made one more move in the dying moments, but much to the relief of the Indian camp, that point was not awarded as it came near the end of the stipulated time.
In her semi-final, Reetikja recorded a comfortable 7-0 victory against Hui Tsz Chang from Chinese Taipei.
Mansi Ahlawat (62kg) also made it to the final four as she only had to win one fight.
She emerged victorious 6-4 against Irina Kuznetsova from Kazakhstan, but was defeated by North Korea's Hyon Gyong Mun, who defended excellently and did not give the Indian any chance to attack.
The only Indian wrestler who could not reach the semi-finals was Nisha Dahiya (68 kg).
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