Vinesh Phogat continued her winning spree in international tournaments as the wrestler captured yet another gold medal, this time at the Poland Open in Warsaw.
Competing in the 53 kg category, Phogat won the gold medal by beating Zosana Roksana of Poland 3-2 in the final.
This was Phogat’s third gold medal in as many tournaments in last two months. She won the yellow metal in Sassari and Yasar Dogu ranking tournaments in Italy and Turkey respectively. Since changing her weight category from 50 kg to 53 kg, she has won a silver, a bronze, and three gold medals.
In the gold medal bout in Warsaw, Phogat got the first point as Roksana was warned for passivity. The score remained 1-0 in Phogat’s favour at the break.
Roskana then countered a Phogat attack and managed to complete a takedown in the danger zone to lead 2-1. But the Indian got back the two points by completing a takedown of her own with a minute remaining.
She held her ground for the minute and foiled any attack by the Polish wrestler.
On Saturday, Phogat had defeated Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson 4-0 in the quarter-final. A takedown in each period gave Vinesh the win. In the semi-finals, Phogat overcame Ekaterina Poleshchuk of Russia 3-1.
She will also represent India at the World Championships in Nursultan, Kazakhstan in September. The Championships offer six Tokyo Olympic quotas in each weight category.
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