Rio de Janeiro: Indian women wrestlers – Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik – crossed the first hurdle by registering contrasting victories in their respective weight divisions in the Rio Olympic Games, here on Wednesday.
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Sakshi Malik progressed to the quarter-finals after beat Moldova’s Mariana Cherdivara Esanu in the pre-quarters after a shaky start to the match.
Sakshi defeated Sweden’s Malin Johanna Mattson 5-4 in the qualification match earlier.
The 23-year-old grappler, however, made amends in the second period as she managed to pull two points back.
Leading 1-0, Vinesh faced a takedown attempt from Yanan which led to an ugly twist of the right leg, and which earned the latter two points before the injury could even be noticed.
Playing against Russia’s Valeriia Koblova, the Indian conceded one point in the first period.
The hard fought match was decided on the basis of technical points.
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Although she twisted her right elbow in the first 20 seconds of the bout, Vinesh did not let that bother her. When play resumed, Vuc tried to attack Vinesh with a leg-hold, but the 21-year-old swiftly converted it into attack to open up a 6-0 lead by the end of the first period of three minutes. With this victory, Sakshi progressed to the last eight where she will square off against Valeriia Koblova of Russian Federation for a semi-final spot.
