Vinesh Phogat suffered a massive upset defeat at the Olympic Games after being pinned by Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarter-...
Vinesh Phogat suffered a massive upset defeat at the Olympic Games after being pinned by Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarter-finals to not only go out of the gold medal race but also face the risk of getting eliminated, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Vinesh had no answer to the supreme defence of Vanesa, who got her revenge from the Indian at the biggest stage after suffering a similar embarrassing defeat by fall earlier this year in Ukraine.
Vanesa, the reigning European champion, executed her strategy perfectly as Vinesh could not find a way to wriggle out of Vanesa’s headlocks.
That crippled and rattled the top seed Vinesh, who is one of the strongest wrestlers in her category.
Even when Vinesh got behind Vanesa, she could not push her down on the knees from a favourable position with the Belarusian showing immense strength to keep her legs straight.
Vinesh used all her might but Vanesa’s defence would not crumble. Even the famous double-leg attack that Vinesh has used to get herself into position to pin her rivals, did not result in points.
Now if the Belarusian does not make the final, Vinesh’s Olympic campaign will end in another heart-breaking exit.
She had suffered a quarter-final defeat against China’s Sun in Rio Games, where she...
