Asian Games 2018: Who is Vinesh Phogat?

Vinesh Phogat defeated Yuki Irie of Japan in the finals of the 50kg wrestling category to win the gold medal.

Vinesh Phogat celebrates after winning the Gold medal in women’s freestyle 50 kg wrestling at the Asian Games 2018, in Jakarta on Monday. (Source: PTI)

Vinesh Phogat rewrote history on Monday after becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win Asian Games gold medal. This was after she defeated Yuki Irie of Japan in the finals of the 50kg category. Vinesh Phogat is a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist. She has also won countless other medals at various international meets.

Born in Balali, Haryana, Vinesh comes from a reputed background of wrestling which boasts of her cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari Phogat. She is the daughter of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat’s younger brother Rajpal. In her early days, she was coached by Mahavir Singh Phogat.

Vinesh’s first international medal came at the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships where she won the bronze in the women’s freestyle 51 kg category. Since then there has been no looking back for the 25-year-old as she went on to win the gold in the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games in the women’s freestyle 48 kg category.

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In the same year, Vinesh won the bronze medal at the Asian Games in Incheon in the women’s freestyle 48 kg category.

In the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, she made India proud by securing the yellow metal in women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling.

Last year, the Wrestling Federation of India had briefly suspended her for indiscipline. However, with an impressive performance in Jakarta, she will now be confident of a strong show at Tokyo 2020.