India’s Vinesh Phogat became the 5th wrestler from the country to book an Olympic quota, after beating Turkey’s Evin Demirhan in the semifinals of the final Olympic qualifier in Istanbul on Saturday.
The 21-year-old was leading 8-2 at one point in the tie against the home favourite and eventually clinched the contest in the 48 kg category to become the 1st women wrestler to make the cut for the Summer Games in August.
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The news will come as a positive boost for the Indian, who a fortnight ago, was disqualified from the opening Olympic qualification that was held in Mongolia last month after being found overweight in her category by 400 gms.
Rio 2016 will be Phogat’s 1st Olympics of her career.
Simultaneously as the news of Phogat came in, Sakshi Malik also booked a quota, this time in the 58kg category, defeating Lan Zhang of China to go through to Rio 2016.
Phogat won the gold by beating Matkowska 6-0 in the final.
