Vinesh Phogat gets near perfect draw at Asian Olympic wrestling qualifiers

Two-time Olympian Vinesh Phogat couldn’t have asked for a better draw to win a quota for the Paris Olympics at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers that begin in Bishkek on Friday.

Phogat, who will be wrestling her first international competition since she withdrew injured from the Hungarian Grand Prix in June last year, only needs to make it to the final of the qualifiers to win a quota.

She finds herself on the opposing side of the bracket as North Korea’s Kim Song-Hyan, who is expected to be her only real challenge in the Olympic qualifiers.

The women’s 50kg category is already weakened by the absence of wrestlers from China, Japan and Mongolia, all of whom have already qualified for the Olympics at the World Championships last year.

India has only won a single quota for the Paris Games, claimed by Antim Panghal en route her bronze medal in the women’s 53kg category at the 2023 World Championships.

A medal quota, even against diminished opposition, will be a huge shot of confidence for Vinesh a two-time world medallist who saw her career nearly derailed after becoming the face of Indian wrestlers’ protest against former national federation (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who was accused of sexual harassment last year.

The 29-year-old also underwent an ACL surgery last year before she came back to win the national title (in the women’s 55kg category) and then the national selection trials, to get picked in the Indian team for the qualifiers.

Although Phogat won both her world medals in the women’s 53kg category, she competed in both that and the 50kg category at the selection trials, losing in the semifinals in the first and winning the trials in the latter.