Paris: Continuing her majestic march at the biggest stage, Vinesh Phogat advanced to the maiden semifinals of the women’s freestyle 50kg match after beating Ukraine’s Oksana Vasylivna Livach 7-5 in her second bout of the day at the Paris Olympics 2024 on Tuesday.
Vinesh, who started the day by stunning Japan’s four-time World Champion and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Yui Susaki, took an initial lead of 2-0 in the first period of the match against Oksana, who won her first bout 10-0 on technical superiority.
The second period was a bit challenging for Vinesh as Oksana fought back and took a 2-pointer after the Indian grappler had stretched her lead to 4-0 with two minutes and two seconds remaining in the match.
The 29-year-old Vinesh recovered quickly to counter and got one more point to her name to take the lead 5-2.
In the last few seconds of the bout, the Ukrainian attacked fiercely but Vinesh managed to hold on to her defence and counter-attacked to get a 2-pointer via technical superiority.
With 10 seconds left in the match, the Ukrainian grappler came up with a big move but Vinesh defended well and restricted her to one point. And that was enough for Vinesh to win the match 7-5.
Earlier, Vinesh advanced to the quarterfinal by registering a 3-2 upset win over Yui Susaki, the undisputed queen in 50 kg, who has still now lost only five bouts in her career since 2010.
A former World No.1 in 48kg, Vinesh is participating in her third Olympics. She narrowly missed a bronze medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics because of an injury. In the Tokyo Olympics, she lost to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarterfinal. Her stay in the tournament came to an end after Kaladzinskaya lost in the semifinal, ending repechage hopes for the Indian.
In the past, Vinesh has participated in the 48 kg and 53 kg weight categories. This time in Paris, she is taking part in 50 kg.
(IANS)
