Adversities have given Vinesh Phogat belief to beat anyone on mat, says coach Kuldeep Malik

Phogat has had a horrendous five years, where the wrestler had to deal with multiple injuries that have been a blockade for her progress throughout. While she was stretchered off from the 2016 Rio Olympics bout against China’s Sun Yanan in the women’s 49kg quarter-finals, last year, she had to pull herself out ahead of the World meet owing to an elbow injury.

However, Phogat has always come back and, even before qualifying, has been touted as one of India’s biggest hopefuls for an Olympic medal. National team coach Malik has attributed her comeback to her confidence.

“The biggest change in Vinesh in these couple of years is her level of confidence. She has gone through so much that it has made her believe that she can beat anybody on the mat,” said Kuldeep Malik, reported HT.

While most other wrestlers camped in Kazakhstan from two weeks to train, Phogat was seen staying back in Sonepat to train with her personal coach Woller Akos from Hungary. She has even been tested on the mat against male wrestlers and against Akos’s wife Marianna Sastin, a 62kg wrestler. Phogat would be fighting in the 53kg at the World Championships.

“Her normal weight used to be more than 50kg, so in a way it has helped that she doesn’t need to expend her energy to shed her weight,” Malik assured.