Tokyo Olympics wrestling: Vinesh Phogat loses in quarters, Anshu Malik bows out

Vinesh Phogat suffered a massive upset defeat at the Olympic Games after being pinned by Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarterfinals to not only go out of the gold medal race but also face the risk of getting eliminated, on Thursday (August 5). Vinesh had no answer to the supreme defence of Vanesa, who got her revenge from the Indian at the biggest stage after suffering a similar embarrassing defeat ‘by fall’ earlier this year in Ukraine.

The Indian wrestler will now hope that her quarterfinal opponent reaches the final to keep her repechage hopes alive. Vanesa, the reigning European champion, executed her strategy perfectly as Vinesh could not find a way to wriggle out of Vanesa’s headlocks. That crippled and rattled the top seed Vinesh, who is one of the strongest wrestlers in her category.

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