CWG 2022: On a comeback trail, Vinesh Phogat wins gold in Birmingham

Battling depression, elbow injury, and changing weight category to gain international experience, India’s 27-year-old Olympian Vinesh Phogat had gone through a lean patch in the past year.

However, on the comeback trail, Vinesh Phogat claimed gold in the women’s 53kg freestyle wrestling event at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. With victory on Saturday, Vinesh successfully defended the title she won four years ago at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia.

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Vinesh Phogat joined by two other women wrestlers as medalists on Saturday

Apart from Vinesh Phogat's gold, Pooja Gehlot and Pooja Sihag won bronze medals in their respective weight categories also.

In her last-round robin match, Vinesh took roughly two-and-a-half minutes to pin Sri Lanka's 18-year-old Chamodya Keshani Maduravalage Don to top the group and win gold.

The Sri Lankan was no match for the experienced Indian wrestler, who is nine years older than her. Vinesh didn’t break into sweat to win a title that will surely give a boost to her confidence to prepare for the 2022 Belgrade World Wrestling Championships scheduled to be held in September, in Serbia.

Canada’s Samantha Stewart outplayed Nigerian Mercy Bolafunolowa Adekuoroye 6-5 in the dying seconds of a thrilling six-minute contest to finish second in the 53kg group and win silver.

There were huge expectations from another Indian - 25-year-old Pooja Gehlot, who has been battling injuries for more than a year. She was expected to win women’s 50kg Commonwealth gold.

Pooja, however, lost her semifinal encounter to Canada’s Madison Parks 6-9 and fought for a bronze medal match against Scotland’s Christelle Lemofack Letchidjio. She won 12-2.

Even a bronze medal for Pooja would be considered good as she made her comeback only at the 2021 National Wrestling Championships in November after a long gap occasioned by an injury.

Pooja Sihag won the third medal, a bronze in the women’s 76kg category. She defeated Naomi de Bruine of Australia 11-0.