Vinesh wins gold, set to top Tokyo seeding

NEW DELHI: World No.1 Vinesh Phogat cruised to the 53kg gold at the Poland Open ranking series in Warsaw on Friday. In the final, Phogat defeated Khrystyna Breeza of Ukraine 8-0. It was her third successive gold, having won in the Rome Ranking Series which was followed by her maiden gold at the Asian Championships in April.

She has been at her dominating best with little over a month remaining for the Tokyo Olympics. Phogat is likely to enter the Tokyo as the top seed after this victory. She is currently the No.3 seed after world champion Mi Pak Yong and Japanese Mayu Mukaida. While North Korean Mi Yong will miss the Olympics, Mukaida is yet to participate in any international competition this season. So, Phogat is expected to overtake her in seedings.

On Friday, the only bout where Phogat conceded points was against world bronze medallist Ekaterina Poleshchuk in the opener. Phogat was put on the activity clock in the first period and as she went for a leg attack, Poleshchuk countered for two points. Phogat returned in the second period to attack fluently. A double leg attack and pushout handed her four points. She had another quick seize of Poleshchuk’s legs and brought her down for two more points for a comfortable 6-2 lead as she closed out the bout.

In the semi-final, Phogat swiftly beat American Amy Ann Fearnside, pinning her down with barely a minute on the clock. In the final, Phogat never allowed Breeza any room to attack. A double leg attack gave her two points to start with and kept racking them up with takedowns for a 8-0 win.

Phogat has been training in Budapest with personal coach Woller Akos since April. In 57kg, Anshu Malik had to withdraw just before her weigh-in because she had a fever.