TIL Desk Sports/ A dominant Vinesh Phogat won her first gold medal of the 2020 season at the Rome Ranking Series event after teen sensation Anshu Malik settled for a silver in 57kg competition, in Rome, on Friday. Vinesh downed two tough Chinese rivals on her way to the 53kg gold medal bout in which she overpowered Ecudor’s Luisa Elizabeth Valverde 4-0.
Showing immense upper body strength, Vinesh had rattled her rival with shoulder pulls, never allowing her to attack. She won by technical superiority against Khrystyna Bereza (10-0) and Lannuan Luo (15-5) before getting the better of Qianyu Pang (4-2).
If the win against Ukrainian Bereza was about spectacular double leg attacks, the quarterfinal win over the Luo was much tougher than the what the score-line suggested. Luo was a strong opponent, who led 5-2 at the end of first period but Vinesh turned it around with smart point-scoring moves from nowhere in the second period.
