Sunday, August 7, 2022

CWG 2022: A big medal after 4 years takes away some pain of the past for Vinesh; wrestlers win a medal in each category

Birmingham: Small-built Vinesh Phogat, who is one of the stars of Indian women’s wrestling, had the entire nation in agony, when she fell down and injured herself after being a medal contender at the 2016 Olympics. She was seeking to be the first woman to win a Olympic wrestling medal. That honour finally went to Sakshi Malik at the same Games.

Commonwealth Games: India schedule, Results, Medals tally

Then Vinesh lost in the first round at Tokyo and critics began to write her off. Keeping all that grief bottled inside her Vinesh has worked her back and the third successive CWG gold was the proof.

Coming straight from the medal ceremony, Vinesh kept looking at the medal again and again, as if trying to be sure that all that was happening was real. Then watching Ravi Kumar add another gold before meeting the media, she added, “It is always tough to win a gold and more so after so many injuries and mental pressure.”

Later she added, "I had lost my confidence, I feel I have found it now. It happens with all the athletes at some point. Only I know what pains I have taken to be here. I had hit rock bottom mentally, I was not able to digest what was going wrong with me."

Now she and India can look forward to a medal at the 2024 Olympics and maybe the World Championships before that.

Meanwhile, the Indian wrestlers ensured a cent per cent record with a medal for each of the 12 who were brought here to Birmingham. This was the second straight CWG where India had registered a medal in every category.
After three gold on the first day, India added three more on the second. The most prominent gold on the second day was from Vinesh (women’s 53 kg), a star beset with injuries over the last few years. She became the first Indian woman to win three gold medals at the Commonwealth Games.

The other gold medallists of the day were Ravi Kumar Dahiya (men’s 57 kg), who jokingly referred to the strong resemblance he has with Bajrang Punia, and Naveen (men’s 74kg).

The three bronze medallists on Saturday were Pooja Gehlot (women’s 50 kg), Pooja Sihag (women’s 76 kg) and Deepak Nehra (men’s 97 kg)

Over two days, India had seven finalists and all barring Anshu Malik on the first day, won gold. India’s overall tally is now 12 gold, 11 silver and 15 bronze.

Though there were just four wrestlers in her category, Vinesh had a big challenge in the first bout against the 2021 World championship bronze medallist Samantha Leigh Stewart of Canada. She then breezed Mercy Adekuoroye 6-0 and ensured the gold by beating Sri Lanka's Chamodya Keshani Maduravlage Don 'by fall' to clinch her third successive gold.

Vinesh’s first match was the one expected to be tough, but the Indian making a comeback to a top event for first time since 2018 CWG, outclassed Samantha Leigh Stewart in mere 36 seconds. Vinesh had her down on the mat in less than half a minute and closed the contest. Thereafter it was quite easy.

Getting emotional, Vinesh said, “Only I know what I have done to win this medal. It feels a lot more special considering what I have gone through over the past 12 months."

Though she does not pay any special attention to her diet, she says, “My family takes care of that... only feed me well.”

"They (family) push me a lot on my diet and make sure I am consuming enough milk and almonds. I have also started training with the boys, I didn't do that a lot earlier," she said.

"I can feel mentally fine only when my training is going fine. If it doesn't happen it disturbs me a lot. The environment around me has changed a lot (since Tokyo). My husband has started to stay with me when I am training (in Lucknow).

Tokyo Games silver medallist Ravi Kumar was too good for the 57kg field. He won against Indian-origin wrestler Suraj Singh of New Zealand and Pakistan's Asad Ali by technical superiority en route to the gold.

In the gold medal match, Ravi Dahiya sealed a 10-0 victory by technical superiority against Ebikewenimo Welson in the gold medal match.

Naveen was the third gold medal winner. In the Men’s Freestyle 74kg category final he defeated Pakistan’s Muhammad Sharif Tahir. Naveen was close to a win by a 10-point margin (Technical superiority) as he sealed 9-0 victory by points. Naveen was dominant in the first period and did not let his opponent take any points.

The Indian took a 2-0 lead in the first period by pinning his opponent. In the second and final period, Naveen managed to hold his ground with a solid grip to grab the gold medal.

Earlier in the day, Indian grappler Pooja Gehlot won the bronze medal in the Women’s Freestyle 50 kg category. She defeated Christine Lemofack Letchidjio of Scotland.

Pooja Sihag (76kg) added a bronze beating Australia's Naomi de Bruine in the play-off and towards the end of the session in men's freestyle 97kg, Deepak Nehra beat Pakistan's Tayab Raza on points for a bronze.

That ensured a medal in each of the 12 categories over two days.

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