Yasar Dogu 2019 | Vinesh Phogat wins gold; Sakshi Malik, Pooja Dhanda crash out
Vinesh Phogat continued her gold medal winning streak into the Yasar Dogu 2019 Ranking Series tournament in Istanbul as he topped the 53kg category event. However, while the likes of Seema and Manju Kumari also clinched the yellow metal, the likes of Sakshi Malik and Pooja Dhanda were ousted.
With India already doing well in the wrestling tourney, Phogat added icing on the cake by winning all four of her bouts (11-1, 7-0, 14-4, 9-5) in quite a comprehensive manner. Her last gold medal came in last week in the Grand Prix of Spain.
Apart from her, Seema and Manju Kumari also won gold medals in the 50kg and 59kg category respectively. Seema overcame the challenge of Russia’s Valeriya Chepsarakova, who was eyeing her second career Ranking Series. Manju, on the other hand, thrashed Katsiaryna Hanchar Yanushkevich of Belarus 13-2, in the 59kg finals.
However, India’s bigger hopes in the tourney Sakshi Malik and Pooja Dhanda were the biggest failures as they lost their respective events and crashed out of the tournament.
The men's wrestling also saw Rahul Aware winning the gold medal in the 61kg freestyle category on Friday, as he defeated Munir Aktas of Turkey 4-1 for his first career Ranking Series victory. Apart from that, Utkarsh clinched the bronze in the same weight division.
