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Vinayak Padmadeo
Jakarta, August 20
The move is called Cradle or Jholi in akhada parlance. As the name suggests, the move is similar to the action of a person holding a baby. The move involves the aggressor first grabbing the neck of the opponent with one arm and clinching the knee by wrapping the elbow with the other. Lock both the hands together and the opponent has nowhere to move.
On Monday, Vinesh Phogat first did the Cradle early on against Japan’s Yuki Irie and then was comfortable throughout. A minute into the first period of the 50kg final, the 23-year-old first locked her arms around Yuki to pin her on the mat and then rolled her. This brought her four quick points.
The lead stood 4-0 after the first period. And the comfortable lead brought a change in strategy, Vinesh now was not attacking. The referee first mildly reminded her to be more aggressive but then gave a caution point against her for failing to do so.
The big change was her defensive work in the second period. She evaded the attacks on most occasions by sprawling her legs on the mat. The Japanese managed a point but was caught on the counter and Vinesh became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. At the end the scorecard read 6-2.
“I had targeted gold. I have won 3-4 silvers at the Asia level. I was determined to win a gold today. My body responded well, I had trained well and God was kind. So everything came together for me today,” she told the media after her win.
The Rio revenge
While Vinesh was a picture of calm in the finals, she felt a few nerves going up against her nemesis at the 2016 Rio Olympics, China’s Sun Yanan. Vinesh had injured her knee in the match against Sun that ended her medal hopes. The injury cast a doubt on her career after she had to undergo a corrective surgery. Vinesh agreed that there was pressure to deliver.
“There was pressure but it was to prove that I am actually stronger than her. I wanted to prove this today because I lost thrice to her before. And I have done this today,” she said.
“Injuries are part of an athlete’s career and it is difficult to come back. It is difficult both emotionally and physical. But I shrugged of everything to deliver some good medals recently. Someone had said that an athlete becomes stronger only after an injury and I feel I indeed have become stronger than before,” she added.
Chief coach Kuldeep Malik conceded that Vinesh was a bit hesitant but settled well to win against Sun. “When you get a serious injury you develop self-doubt. She had the same feeling but look how she bounced back after her initial hesitancy,” Malik said.
After going past Sun, Vinesh displayed a ruthless streak and dispatched each of her opponents by technical superiority. She first beat South Korea’s Kim Hyungjoo 11-0 in the quarterfinals and then Uzbekistan’s Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova 10-0 to move into the gold medal match against Yuki.
Sakshi, Pooja miss out
India could have won at least two more medals from the wrestling venue but both Sakshi Malik and Pooja Dhanda lost their bronze medal playoffs. Rio Olympics bronze medal winner Sakshi was tamed 2-12 by North Korea’s Jong Sim Rim. Before going into the repechage bout, Sakshi lost 7-9 to Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova. Pooja lost 1-6 against Japan’s Katsuki Sakagmi in the 57kg category. She had lost her semifinal 0-10 against North Korea’s Myong Suk Jong.
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