I am at 85 per cent of peak performance: Vinesh
NEW DELHI: Three months before the Tokyo Olympics, Vinesh Phogat is making the right moves. She has won three tournaments including her first Asian championships gold. It has taken Phogat to No.1 in the 53kg wrestling world rankings but she said to hit her peak at the Olympics, some work was still needed. The most important area she has to focus on is recovery after cutting weight before a competition.
She had this problem in 2019 and it resurfaced at the Asian championships in Almaty earlier this month. “When I cut weight, at times my blood pressure goes down. If I feel it beforehand, I can take care of it. But sometimes during competition, I don’t get to know when it drops instantly and then I feel dizzy in bouts and I am not able to give 100 per cent,” she said.
“I felt it a bit during my second competition (Rome Ranking Series) and at the Asian championships, I felt it more. So, I have to monitor it. When salt in my body goes down, I feel dizzy,” said Phogat at an interaction organised by the Sports Authority of India.
Tokyo will be her second Olympics. A career-threatening knee injury on the mat brought her down at the Rio Games. As one of India’s best medal prospects, Phogat knows she has to be in her best shape. Changing her diet plan and managing weight loss better is priority. “If recovery is happening late, and if I get a strong opponent in the first round, then it can be a problem. I have to work on what changes can be made in my diet or how to manage my weight loss in a better way,” she said.
It has taken sometime for her body to adjust to the rigours of the top-level competition after the long break because of Covid-19. Phogat returned to the mat earlier this year and her first tournament was in Ukraine. A week later she competed at the Rome Ranking Series. She won gold in both.
“The body was stiff, I was rusty in the first competition. In the second competition, it was more smooth-going and I could feel mind and body coordination coming back,” said Phogat.
“I am on the right track. I am 85% there and yet to reach the peak. I want to take it slowly and don’t want to peak early. Once I get closer to the Olympics, I will start peaking.”
“I am looking to be more aggressive with my attacks – what you say chain wrestling where I can stitch one attack after another. And that’s where I feel I am still to reach the level where I was last year. I am working on it.”
At the Asian championships, Phogat did not concede a single point in the three bouts she fought. She had gone to the Asian meet to face two-time world champion Mayu Mukaida of Japan and Chinese Pang Qianyu, who took bronze in the world championships in 2018 and 2019. Knowing she could meet both at the Olympics, Phogat wanted to use the Asian meet as a tune-up but both withdrew. Having lost to Mukaida at the world and Asian championships, Phogat was looking forward to test her preparations.
“I was prepared for her. In Delhi (Asian championships, 2020), I attacked her in areas where I generally don’t and got some points. I have worked more on those attacks. Also, I was looking to score more points in ground wrestling. We both understand each other’s game so well so she might be ready with some different plan,” said Phogat. This being the Olympics Phogat said not just for Mukaida, she would need to have a strategy for every opponent. “Some are strong, some are technically smart. I have to go into the bouts with different strategies for everyone.”
That has been the biggest change for her under Hungarian coach Woller Akos. “Earlier, I did not prepare for every opponent and I was always attacking, always in a hurry. Now, I read my opponents well. I used to wrestle from front. Now I am in motion, use my hands more. I have cleaner, smoother moves. I don’t get stuck.”
Phogat,26, is still waiting to get the Covid-19 vaccine and hoped the Indian Olympic Association or the Wrestling Federation of India would arrange for it. “I don’t want to arrange it on my own, so I am waiting. Tokyo Olympics is close,” she said.