JAKARTA, Aug 20: Vinesh Phogat today created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the Asian Games, brushing aside her rivals with remarkable ease in the 50kg category here.
Vinesh was a medal-favourite in her category and was likely to face stiff competition from Japan�s Yuki Irie whom she outplayed 6-2 in the final.
It is surely a ground-breaking achievement for the 23-year-old firebrand Haryana wrestler, who is connected to Dangal-famed Phogat family.
Putting behind her heart-breaking loss at the Olympics two years ago, Vinesh began her victorious campaign with a revenge win against Chinese Yanan Sun against whom she had suffered that terrible leg injury which cut short her journey in Rio.
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.
Vinesh�s 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.
The gold also enabled Vinesh to achieve another feat as she became the only woman wrestler to win two medals in back-to-back Asian Games.
Vinesh had earlier won a bronze medal in the 48kg category at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
Vinesh also won back-to-back gold medals in Glasgow and Gold Coast Commonwealth Games this year.
However, Rio Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik, competing in her first Asian Games, and Pooja Dhanda lost their bronze medal bouts tamely.
Earlier, Pinki was the only girl 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.
In the men�s freestyle 125kg, Sumit Malik also lost his bronze medal bout, leaving India with just one medal from wrestling today.
Malik, the last remaining Indian in the men�s freestyle, went down in the 125kg category as he could not resist his opponent even for two minutes, losing by technical superiority.
Thus, the men�s campaign finished with just one gold medal from Bajrang Punia (65kg). � PTI
