New Delhi: India’s Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic wrestling final after she outplayed Cuba’s Lopez Guzman 5-0 in the semifinal bout of the Paris Games here on Tuesday night.
India are thus assured of at least a silver after the shooters fetched them three bronze medals earlier.
Vinesh, one of the faces of wrestlers’ protest against ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh – accused of sexual harassment – will battle for gold in women’s 50 kg category on August 7 against the winner of the Otgonjargal Dolgorjav versus Sarah Ann Hildebrandt semifinal bout.
Earlier in the day, Vinesh knocked out reigning champion Yui Susaki of Japan in one of the biggest upsets of the Paris Olympics wrestling competition. Vinesh edged out top-seeded Susaki 3-2 in the round of 16.
India have bagged 7 medals in Olympic wrestling so far, including 2 silver (Sushil Kumar and Ravi Dahiya) and 5 bronze (KD Jadhav, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia).
