Vinesh Phogat, with the baggage she has had for almost two years now, fighting for herself, fighting for her fellow women wrestlers and fighting for her community on streets, in courts and wherever she went to seek justice, pulled off what no other wrestler in the international arena could do, beat Yui Susaki. The Japanese wrestler who had an 82-0 record in international wrestling and was defending her Olympic Gold in the women's 50kg category lost to Vinesh in the Round of 16 and the Indian wrestler was ecstatic.
Vinesh went to one corner of the mat, jumped in joy and the tears started flowing. That meant so much to her than just beating the top-seed Susaki. A few minutes later, Vinesh was in action once again facing Oksana Livach of Ukraine in the quarter-final. That proved to be a much tougher bout even though Phogat started strong and had a four-point lead before Livach made a comeback. A failed review after losing a point meant that the point difference was just one going into the final couple of minutes before Vinesh got a couple more superiority points and prevailed in the end 7-5 to win on points.
Vinesh will now take on Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman in the semi-final, who won her quarter-final bout against Lithuania's Gabija Dilyte.
When will Vinesh Phogat vs Yusneylis Guzman wrestling women's 50kg category semi-final start?
The first semi-final of the women's 50kg wrestling event between Vinesh Phogat and Yusneylis Guzman will kick off at 10:15 PM IST. The match will be telecast live on Sports18 1, Sports18 1 HD, Sports18 2 and Sports18 3 channels on TV while the live streaming will be available on the wrestling tab in the JioCinema app and website. The second semi-final where USA's Sarah Hilderbrandt will take on Dolgorjav Otgonjargal of Mongolia will follow Vinesh's bout.
The wrestlers losing the semi-final will take on each other in the bronze medal bout while the winners will be playing the Gold medal match.
