Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), March 3
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat settled for a silver medal in the ongoing Asian Wrestling Championships as she lost the keenly-fought title clash in the 50kg category to China’s Chun Lei by a narrow margin of 3-2 here today.
The Chinese took the first point but Vinesh soon grabbed two points to surge ahead. She hung on to the slender lead until two minutes were left in the bout. With time running out fast, Chun made a desperate attempt and managed to pick two points. The stunned Vinesh tried to regain the lead but the Chinese foiled all her attempts to win the gold.
This is Vinesh’s second consecutive silver at the event, following her last year’s podium finish at home on her comeback from a major knee injury.
Meanwhile, another female wrestler, Sangeeta Phogat, secured a bronze medal in the 59kg weight category. She defeated Um Jieun of Korea Republic 9-4 for the medal.
The two medals took India’s medal tally to four in the tournament after Greco-Roman wrestlers Harpreet Singh and Rajender Kumar clinched bronze medals earlier. While Singh grabbed the bronze in 82kg, beating Uzbekistan’s Khashimbekov 11-3, Kumar clinched the medal in the 55kg category as he beat Uzbekistan’s Mirakhmedov.
To miss out on a bronze medal was Kuldeep Malik (72kg), who lost the medal bout 0-11 to Japan’s Inoue Tomohiro, and Manish, who was edged 4-6 by Uzbekistan’s Rakhmatov Mirzobek. Naveen, competing in the 130kg event, lost his bronze-medal round 1-3 to China’s Xiaoming Nie. He had reached the medal round after winning his repechage round against Japan’s Sonoda Arata.
