New Delhi: India has clinched another gold medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games as Vinesh Phogat came out with flying colours in the women's 53 kg freestyle category.
Phogat defeated Sri Lanka's Chamodya Keshani Maduravlage Don to finish on top of the podium as India continued their dominance in wrestling at the Birmingham Games.
Notably, Phogat had won gold in the previous two editions at Gold Coast (in 2018) and in Glassgow (in 2014).
She managed to defeat her Sri Lankan opponent in just 2 minutes and 24 seconds with a victory by fall. Interestingly, for the majority of those 2 minutes, she had her opponent pinned on the mat.
Since only four wrestlers competed in this weight category, the medals were decided in Nordic format - a round robin format unlike a knockout one in all other weight categories.
In the first match, Vinesh Phogat defeated Mercy Bolafunoluwa Adekuoroye of Nigeria and Samantha Stewart of Canada.
Vinesh was a strong contender for the medal in the Tokyo Olympics, but she had to face defeat. Struggling for form and fitness, Vinesh had crashed out of the Olympics in the first round
Meanwhile, Wrestler Ravi Dahiya won his first major gold medal as he beat Nigeria's Ebikewenimo Welson in the final of the men's 57kg final by technical superiority.
So far, India has won 10 medals in wrestling. Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik, Deepak Punia, Anshu Malik, Divya Kakran, and Mohit Grewal won medals in wrestling for India on Day 8 of the multi-nation event, while Pooja Gehlot, Ravi Dahiya, Vinesh Phogat, and Naveen won medals on Day 9.
The Indian contingent has won a total of 34 medals so far with the most number of medals coming in weightlifting and wrestling events. With this figure, India are currently ranked fifth in the overall medals tally with 12 gold, 11 silver, and 11 bronze medals.