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Vinesh Phogat suffered a upset defeat at the Tokyo Olympics after being pinned by Belarus’ Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the women’s 53kg freestyle wrestling quarterfinals on Thursday.
Phogat had no answer to the supreme defence of Kaladzinskaya, who got her revenge from the Indian at the biggest stage after suffering a similar defeat ‘by fall’ earlier this year in Ukraine.
Kaladzinskaya, the reigning European champion, executed her strategy perfectly as Phogat could not find a way to wriggle out of her headlocks. That rattled the top seed, who is one of the strongest wrestlers in her category.
Even when Phogat got behind Kaladzinskaya, she could not push her down on the knees from a favourable position with the Belarusian showing immense strength to keep her legs straight.
The Indian used all her might but Kaladzinskaya’s defence would not crumble. Even the famous double-leg attack that Phogat has used to get herself into position to pin her rivals, did not result in points.
Later, the Belrusian lost her semi-final to China’s Qinyu Pang on criteria after scores were tied 2-2, a result that brought curtains on Phogat’s campaign at the Tokyo Games.
The top-seed, who was a hot favourite for a medal, needed Kaladzinskaya to beat the Chinese to rejoin the 53kg competition through…