Rio de Janeiro, Aug 5 : Vinesh Phogat shows a lot of promise and looks set to surprise everyone at the Games. After her disqualification at the penultimate qualifying event in Mongolia for being 400 gm overweight, Vinesh beat former World silver medalist Iwona Matkowska to take the gold in the final qualifying event in Istanbul. Ranked 14 in the world, Vinesh will be hoping to take that confidence with her and get India’s first medal in women’s wrestling at the Olympics.

Vinesh Phogat managed to qualify for the Olympics by winning the 2nd Olympics qualification event in Istanbul, winning the entire tournament after she was disqualified from the first Olympic qualifiers being a couple of kilos overweight for the tournament. However, in the second qualifiers, she dominated every opponent who came in her way and won the tournament easily.

Indeed, her past laurels and performances would project her as a medal prospect. Born into the famous Phogat family of Haryana, the youngest sister amongst fellow Olympians Geeta and Babita, the 21-year-old has won laurels and trophies over the years, claiming Commonwealth games Gold in 2014 and Asian games Bronze in the same year.

At 21, she has shown enough promise for us to consider herself a contender. It will perhaps be tough but it is certainly not beyond her reach.

Key Opponents : Eri Tosaka (Japan), Mariya Stadnik (Azerbaijan), Jessica Blaszka (Netherlands)

Predicted Finish : Top 4 (Medal Prospect)

Watch Vinesh Phogat