Vinesh Phogat helped India secure second gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. The Indian wrestler defeated Japan’s Irie Yuki 2-6 (technical points) 1-3 (class points) in the finals of the women's freestyle 50 kg category. With it, she becomes the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. This is now India’s second gold following wrestler Bajrang Punia’s victorious effort on an opening day. Meanwhile, India now moves to seventh on the Asian Games 2018 medals tally and have five overall medals in its kitty. Asian Games Medal Tally 2018 Updated.
Earlier in semi-finals, Vinesh defeated Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan by technical superiority 10-0. Vinesh had earlier registered a comfortable 11-0 victory over South Korea's Kim Hyungjoo in the quarter-finals, after defeating China's Sun Yanan by technical superiority 8-2 in the 1/8 finals.
On the other hand, Indian wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Pooja Dhanda failed to win their respective semi-final ties and can now hope only for a bronze. Up against two-time World Championships medallist North Korea's Jong Myong Suk, India's Pooja went down 0-10 meekly in the women's 57kg category. Asian Games 2018 Live News Updates Day 2.
In the 62kg category, Sakshi was up against her old nemesis Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan, whom she beat at the Rio Olympics to clinch the bronze. Sakshi started with a 4-0 lead before Aisuluu came back strongly to first reduce the deficit to 2-4 and then took four straight points to turn the tables and lead 6-4.
After the breather, Sakshi managed to get a point, thanks to a penalty before adding four more points for a takedown from standing position. But a challenge from the Kyrgyzstan grappler reduced Sakshi's lead to just a point but there was more drama in store as Aisuluu picked two more points to close the contest with a slender 8-7 win. (Inputs IANS)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2018 06:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).