Vinesh Phogat
Vinesh Phogat (born 25 August 1994) is an Indian wrestler who comes from a successful background of wrestling with her cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari, both international wrestlers and Commonwealth Games medalists as well.
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Early life
She is from village Balali, district Bhiwani in Haryana and is cousin of wrestler Geeta Phogat. Vinesh is the daughter of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat's younger brother Rajpal and the cousin of wrestlers Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari. Both her cousins have won gold in 55kg category in Commonwealth Games.
In allowing her cousins and herself to pursue competitive wrestling, her father and uncle had to deal with immense pressure and opposition from the community in their village in Haryana. They were adjudged as going against the morals and values of their community. Her cousin, Ritu Phogat, too is an international level wrestler and has won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.
Career
2013 Asian Wrestling Championships - In the tournament in New Delhi, India, Vinesh won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category, winning 3:0 in the bronze medal bout through the repechage round to Tho-Kaew Sriprapa of Thailand.
In the first round, Vinesh won 3:1 against Nanami Irie of Japan. She then lost 1:3 in the quarter-finals to Tatyana Amanzhol of Kazakhstan who qualified for the final thus qualifying the Indian grappler for the repechage round.[6]
2013 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships - In an exclusive tournament held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Vinesh finished second and won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category, losing in the final round to Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria.[7] 2014 Commonwealth Games
2014 : Vinesh represented India in the women's freestyle 48 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and won the gold medal.[8]
In the quarter-finals, Vinesh faced Rosemary Nweke of Nigeria and beat her 5-0. Her semi-finals opponent was Jasmine Mian of Canada whom she beat 4-1. In the gold medal bout, she faced home favourite Yana Rattigan of England and won the gold medal, beating her 3-1.[9]
2014 Asian Games - At the Games in Incheon, South Korea, Vinesh won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 48 kg category.[10]
In the Round of 16, Vinesh faced Yongmi Pak from the People's Republic of Korea and beat her 3:1. Her quarter-finals opponent was Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan whom she overcame easily with a 5:0 scoreline. She lost 1:3 in the semi-finals to Eri Tosaka of Japan but qualified for the bronze medal bout and beat Narangerel Eredenesukh of Mongolia to win 10-0 easily after referee stopped the bout (classification points 4:0).[11]
2015 : At the 2015 Asian Championships in Doha, Phogat won the silver medal in her category after losing the final to Yuki Irie of Japan.[12] In the qualifying tournament for the 2016 Rio Olympics held in Istanbul, she won in the final round beating Polish wrestler Iwona Matkowska, and qualified for the Olympics in the process.[13]
2016: At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio (Brazil), Vinesh reached the Quarter Finals and lost to Sun Yanan of China owing to a knee injury.
2017: Vinesh Phogat won Silver Medal in Asian Wrestling Championship 2017.
2018 Gold Coast CommonWealth Games - Vinesh Phogat won the gold medal in women's 50kg freestyle wrestling at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
2020 - On 20 August 2020, it was announced that Vinesh Phogat has been selected for 2020 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.
2018 Asian Games
Vinesh Phogat won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and became first Indian woman wrestler to win gold in the Asian Games. Phogat beat Japan's Yuki Irie in Women's 50 kg Freestyle Wrestling gold medal match.
Marriage
Vinesh Phogat tied her knot with Somveer Rathi on 13 December 2018.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Vinesh Phogat also participated in Women's 53KG wrestling championship at Tokyo Olympic games in August 2021. (Tokyo-2020 Oympics were postponed for one year on account of COVID-19 pandemic and hence, were held in August 2021).
Commonwealth Games 2022
Vinesh Phogat defeated Sri Lanka wrestler for a gold in women's 53kg freestyle event. Hindustan Times, 8.8.2022
Also see
References
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