Vinesh Phogat Gold Medal: When was the last time the Indian wrestler won a gold medal?

Three-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist and two-time Olympian Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat secured a gold medal in the recently concluded Grand Prix of Spain on Saturday, July 6, in the women’s 50 kg category. The Asian Championships gold medalist wrestler bagged the gold medal after securing victory over Mariia Tiumerekova by 10-5 in the women’s 50 kg category final of the Grand Prix of Spain International Continental Wrestling Championship 2024.

She bagged a hat-trick of victories to advance to the final before taking on Mariia Tiumerekova, a former Russian wrestler, who is now representing the Individual Neutral Athletes in the grand finale.

Vinesh Phogat, who represented India at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, started off the first bout in the Grand Prix of Spain with a win over Yusneylis Guzman from Cuba by 12-4 to advance to the quarter-final.

In the quarter-final bout, Vinesh pinned Madison Parks from Canada, the CWG 2022 silver medalist, to storm into the semi-final against Katie Dutchak, another Canadian wrestler. In the semi-final bout, Vinesh displayed her sheer domination to bag a win by 9-4 to make it to the grand finale.

The Grand Prix of Spain victory will surely boost Vinesh Phogat’s confidence in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics 2024, scheduled to start on July 27.

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Vinesh Phogat secured her Paris Olympics 2024 quota in April

In April 2024, Phogat secured her Paris Olympics 2024 quota in the women’s 50 kg division after her exceptional performance in the Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

In the women’s 50 kg category, Vinesh Phogat defeated Miran Cheon, an Asian Championships bronze medalist from the Republic of Korea, by 10-0 via technical superiority to make it to the quarter-finals of the campaign.

Later, she pinned Cambodia’s Samnang Dit in the quarter-finals to make it to the quota bout against Kazakhstan’s Laura Ganikyzy in the semi-finals. The experienced Indian grappler was all over the 19-year-old Kazakh wrestler, winning the bout 10-0 by technical superiority.

It’s worth noting that Phogat usually wrestles in the 53 kg weight division. However, she dropped down to the 50 kg weight division since Antim Panghal already secured a Paris Olympics 2024 quota for India in that particular weight division in the World Championships 2023 edition.

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