Golden hat-trick! Vinesh Phogat wins third consecutive gold in #PolandOpen

Warsaw, August 5: India’s wrestling queen Vinesh Phogat made a hat trick of gold medals by winning over Zosana Roskana of Poland 3-2 in the final of the 53kg category at the Poland Open in Warsaw yesterday. She registered her third gold in the last two months.

 

Vinesh Phogat, India’s Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medalist, since changing her weight category from 50 kg to 53 kg, has won a silver, a bronze, and three gold medals. After her wins in Sassari and Yasar Dogu ranking tournaments in Italy and Turkey respectively, Phogat headed to Warsaw for the Poland Open.

She beat Rio Olympic bronze medallist Sofia Mattsson 4-0 in the quarter-final on Saturday. A takedown in each period gave the Indian a seemingly easy win. In the semi-final, she was faced with Ekaterina Poleshchuk of Russia and prevailed 3-1. 

 

In the gold medal bout, the Indian took the lead as Roksana was warned for passivity. At the break, the score remained 1-0 in favour of Phogat.

Roskana wasn’t going to let it slide in front of her home crowd. She countered a Phogat attack and managed to complete a takedown in the danger zone to lead 2-1. However, Phogat flipped the lead right back with a takedown of her own, to lead 3-2 with a minute to go. She then held her ground for the minute to seal the win.

Vinesh Phogat will represent India at the World Championships in Kazakhstan in September next.