NEW DELHI: So far in the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships, India has managed to exceed expectations with medals flowing in Greco-Roman as well as on the first day of the women’s freestyle events. It was expected that two of India’s biggest names in world wrestling — Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik — would add to the three gold medals clinched on Thursday. But the cold hard reality hit on Friday with two Japanese wrestlers standing tall to dent the duo’s hopes. While Sakshi clinched silver, Vinesh had to settle for bronze. Young Anshu Malik (57kg) and the experienced Gursharan Preet Kaur (72kg) added two more bronze to the overall tally.
For Vinesh, it was a familiar story of failure against Mayu Mukaida. Having lost to her twice before — at the Asian Championships and World Championships — that trend continued at the IG Stadium with India’s brightest medal hope for the Tokyo Olympics succumbing 2-6. The first two losses read 10-0 and 7-0.Vinesh was cagey in the opening exchanges, trying to avoid gifting her opponent an opening. She tried to go for single leg attacks a few times but Mukaida was too quick and eventually got the upper body lock to subdue the home favourite. Towards the end of the bout, Vinesh managed to break the hold to open her account against the former world champion.
The 25-year-old then decimated Vietnam’s Thi Ly Kieu, winning by technical superiority in the first period itself to secure bronze. Incidentally, she carried on her record of winning a medal at all Asian Championships since 2015. “Obviously, I’m not happy but I am making progress. It’s not easy to beat the experienced Japanese in this category. I have lost but I tried a few new things and it worked a bit. Earlier, I had not even scored a point against her but this time I got two. The gap is not much now, it’s 70-100 between Mukaida and myself,” Vinesh said.
When asked if she has a mental block against her Japanese counterpart, the Arjuna awardee said, “There is no mental block as such. She knows my moves well and I know hers. Both I tried something new today and she played better and hence triumphed. There are still five months left for the Olympics. I will keep working hard and try to keep improving as there is no end to bettering oneself.”For Sakshi, it has been a rollercoaster of a ride since that fateful night in Rio. Poor performances have been a recurrent theme. While the Commonwealth Championship gold winner did end up with silver, she lost both her bouts (group stage and final) against Japan’s Naomi Ruike. “She was not that strong but I just could not score many points against her. I tried to attack from the start but couldn’t capitalize.”
With the continental qualifiers coming up and Sonam Malik finishing fourth in her weight class (62kg), Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) might still call for a trial as winning medals was mandatory for avoiding trials. “A trial will be good for me as it will give me another shot at making the cut for Tokyo,” she signed off. WFI said trials will be held in two categories as of now. “Trials will be held in 62kg and 76kg on February 26 in Lucknow for women as we could not win any medals,” said WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar.