Asian Wrestling Championships | Vinesh Phogat reaches final after beating Japan's Yuki Irie
getty
2014 Commonwealth Games champion Vinesh Phogat entered the final of the Asian Wrestling Championships by beating Japan’s Yuki Irie as she assured India a silver medal. Apart from her, Greco-Roman wrestlers Harpreet Singh and Rajendra Kumar won bronze medals in 82kg and 55kg categories respectively.
Vinesh managed to take a bigger point than her Japanese opponent as she locked the points at 4-4 with her move. Now, with the silver medal all but confirmed, the Asian Games bronze medalist will face China's Chun Lei for the gold medal.
Apart from Vinesh, Sangeeta still remains in contention for a bronze medal after she lost in the quarter-finals 5-15 against Uzbekistan's Nabira
In other events, both the Indian Greco-Roman wrestlers, Harpreet Singh (82kg) and Rajendra Kumar (55kg), clinched bronze medals. While Harpreet defeated Uzbekistan's Khashimbekov 11-3 managing to win on technical superiority, Rajendra overcame Mirakhmedov from Uzbekistan after he levelled the score at 3-3 to be adjudged the winner.
However, it was not all success for the Indian contingent as they saw numerous wrestlers returning home empty-handed. In the 55kg category, however, Lalita was ousted 0-5 in a lob-sided game against Mongolia's Davaachimeg Eekhembayar. In men’s events, Kuldeep Malik (72kg) was defeated by Japan's Inoue Tomohiro 0-11 andÂ
Competing in the 130kg, Naveen lost to China’s Xiaoming Nie 1-3 after reaching the medal round by winning his repechage round 10-0 against Japanese Sonoda Arata. Others eliminated early were Vikram
