3rd time in row, Vinesh loses to Mukaida, gets bronze

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune news service

New Delhi, February 21

Vinesh Phogat versus Japan’s Mayu Mukaida was tipped as the final before the final when the draw for the 53kg category was announced. But the heavyweight match-up failed to light up the KD Jadhav Stadium as both the wrestlers had decided to play the waiting game.

In the end, it was the 22-year-old Japanese who once again tamed her Indian counterpart with another defensive masterclass.

Vinesh was largely passive in the first period as she did want to give easy points in the first period. Yet she trailed 0-2 after the first period as the Japanese scored a two-point takedown. The lead quickly grew to 6-0 in the second period while Vinesh made the bout interesting after registering her first points against Mayu but it was too little too late, thus, losing 6-2.

Vinesh, though, got a consolation bronze medal through the repechage rule after she beat Vietnam’s Thi Ly Kiue by technical superiority. But the failure to dent Mayu was written all over her face. “I have previously lost to her 10-0 and 7-0, today, I scored against her. So, whatever hardwork is being done is showing on the mat. However, there is a lot for me to work on and the good thing is that we have time on our hands,” the 2019 World Championships bronze medallist said after beating the Vietnamese.

When quizzed about her failure against Mayu, Vinesh said she wasn’t concerned. “It was a strategy for me to hold back. I have fought her twice already where she took a lot of points early on. If you concede many points early then it becomes very hard to recover from there. It was our planning to not give her points and I was ready to attack her on the counter. I tried but it did not stick,” she said before adding: “I have lost today but I am happy in the sense that I got the best opposition which will force me to improve further.”

Sakshi Malik’s fate was somewhat similar as she was beaten by Japan’s unheralded Naomi Ruike in the final of the 65kg category. Sakshi lost 0-2 to settle for silver. Earlier in the day, Sakshi lost her first match to Naomi 1-2. There were only six entries so the competition was reduced to a round-robin format.

In her first bout of the day, Sakshi conceded two passivity points to lose 1-2. She tried to be more aggressive against Naomi in the final but to no avail.

Bronze for Anshu, Gurshanpreet

While the established stars somewhat failed to shine, it was Anshu (57kg) and Sonam Malik (62kg), who caught the eye with some gritty performances. Anshu went on to win her first big medal, a bronze, with a 4-1 win over Sevara Eshmuratova of Uzbekistan. She had earlier beaten Nuraida Anarkulova 11-1 by technical superiority but was tamed 10-0 by the eventual winner Japan’s Risako Kawai.

Sonam, however, lost her bronze medal playoff on technical superiority to Aisuluu Tynybekova.

Gurshanpreet Kaur won the third bronze medal for India as she bettered Mongolia’s Enkhbayar 5-2.

Hope for Sushil, Sakshi

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has given hope to both Sushil Kumar and Sakshi Malik to mount another comeback in the Indian wrestling team. Selection trials will be held for the women wrestlers in two weight divisions (62kg, 76kg) and in the 60kg category of the Greco-Roman discipline. Sonam Malik had defeated Sakshi in the 62kg trials earlier this year. Since Sonam failed to win a medal here, WFI deemed it fit to hold a trial. Kiran too failed to win a medal in the 76kg category. But what raises eyebrows is that WFI is willing to hold a trial in the 74kg category. It means Jitender Kumar, who has been entered in the 74kg category at the Asian Championshps here, will have to prove his worth again in the trial against Sushil.