Vinesh gets close to Asiad gold, Sakshi, Pooja to fight for bronze

Vinesh Phogat exacted sweet revenge on Yanan Sun on her way to the final of 50kg category but Sakshi Malik paid the price for being over-defensive in the 62kg wrestling at the Asian Games today.

Olympic medallist Sakshi was left to fight for bronze and so was CWG silver medallist Pooja Dhanda after losing her semifinal in the 57kg.

Pinki was the only Indian wrestler to not reach the medal round as she lost her first round bout in the 53kg category against Mongolia's Sumiya Erdenechimeg. She could not score a single point and lost her bout by technical superiority.

Sumit Malik, the last Indian remaining in the men's freestyle, bit the dust in the 125kg as he could not face his opponent even for two minutes, losing by technical superiority.

 

The men's campaign thus finished with just one gold medal from Bajrang Punia (65kg).

Starting the day for India was Vinesh, who was up against China's Sun, against whom she had suffered the heart-breaking leg injury during the Rio Olympics.

This time Vinesh did not give her opponent any chance and came out a dominant winner with a 8-2 score.

In the next bout she brushed aside the challenge of Korea's Hyungjoo Kim by technical superiority. She ended the bout with a four-point throw.

Her semifinal lasted just 75 seconds as she moved into the final with a 'fitley'. She was already up 4-0 and then rolled over her opponent thrice with leg-lock.

Sakshi, playing her first Asian Games, was hardly challenged before her semifinal as she easily won against Thailand's Salinee Srisombat (10-0) and Ayaulym Kassymova (10-0).

She was up 4-0 in her semifinal against Kyrgyzstan's Aisuluu Tynybekova but lost six points in a row by the end of first period.

She led 7-6 with a throw but became too defensive while looking to hold her rival with 10 seconds to go. The Kyrgyz took advantage and pushed Sakshi out of the mat to log match-wining two points.

Pooja lost just one point on her way to the semifinals as she outclassed Thailand's Orasa Sookdongyor (10-0) and Uzbekistan's Nabira Esenbae (12-1) but lost the last-four clash on technical superiority to Korea's Myong Suk Jong.