Asian Games: Vinesh Phogat wins second gold for India

Jakarta: Vinesh Phogat is well and truly back. Two years after suffering a nasty knee injury during her quarterfinal bout at the Rio Olympics, Vinesh ensured India returned with a gold from the wrestling ring for the second successive day at the Asian Games here on Monday. The Haryana wrestler clinched the 50 kg freestyle gold to add to her Commonwealth Games title earlier this year.

The 24-year-old cousin of Geeta Phogat and Babita Phogat, got the better of Japan's Yuki Irie 6-2 in the final. With the spectators, which included two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, cheering her on, Vinesh got off to a fine start leading 4-0. Though the Japanese tried her best, Vinesh scored a comfortable win.

Vinesh revealed after her final bout that she was keen on winning the gold. "I’ve won silver 3-4 times before in Asia (Asian Championships). There was no way I would settle for it again. My only target was to win gold. This was a very big opportunity for me, my body was reacting well to the situations today. Everything worked well."

Importance of mental strength

Vinesh said that her mental strength helped her overcome the injury break. "Injuries are part and parcel but to overcome it is a big challenge. I think I have become stronger after my injury and have learnt a lot from that period. I have been mentally strong since childhood. I haven’t worked specifically on it. I have a lot of self-confidence. I don’t think there’s anything I can’t do – if others can, I can too."

Vinesh had it easy against Daulatbike Yakshimuratova of Uzbekistan in the semifinals, as the referee stopped the bout after barely 75 seconds to declare her the winner by technical superiority (10-0).

Vinesh had thrashed South Korea’s Kim Hyungjoo 11-0 in the quarterfinals, after overpowering China’s Sun Yanan by technical superiority 8-2 in the pre-quarterfinals.

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