Why is Vinesh Phogat India's next big medal hope at Tokyo Olympics?

The Tokyo Olympics has been a thrilling journey for all Indian fans. From the first day joy of Mirabai Chanu's silver medal show to PV Sindhu's bronze medal star performance, it has been a delight to watch our athletes perform at the biggest stage. With 2 medals on the tally and 1 assured (Lovlina Borgohain to play her semi-final bout on Wednesday). While there have been depressing performances from the shooting contingent (except Saurabh), other sports like Fencing, Rowing, Equestrian, Table Tennis have risen the hopes of 1.3 billion people in the particular sports.

The biggest of all being the spectacular win in Men's and women's hockey to reach the semi-final stages (Men's in 49 years & women's for the first time). The Chak De India moments were revived when both the Indian teams pulled off this victory to script history. While there are a few other medals on the cards, the biggest hopes out of them will be from the Wrestling team of India.

Indian qualified wrestler at the Tokyo Olympics have been performing consistently well over the past few months and looks in great shape. One of the biggest medal hopes comes from the 53kg category seed No. 1 grappler of India, Vinesh Phogat from the famous Phogat family who have produced several international champions bringing laurels to the homeland.

Why Vinesh is predicted to win the ultimate glory?

Vinesh Phogat, the 26-year old from Haryana, is on a dream run as she won the gold medal in the 53kg at the Poland Open 2021 and also won the gold in Asian wrestling championship in April 2021. The champion has been dominant on the mat and has not conceded a single point in most of her matches (cheers to the Matteo Pelicone Ranking series event where no opponent was able to get a single point against her).

Her sheer class and quick movements with the ability to understand the game has improved considerably. The World bronze medallist also had a victorious run in the Kiev Tournament and this performance builds the confidence amongst the Indian fans to see her as an Olympics medallist.

Your heart must have felt the pain (if you watched the contest) when she suffered from a knee injury back in Rio during a match against China's Sun Yanan. But rising from that injury, the arjuna awardee will now be aiming for the top spot at the Tokyo Olympics.

With 1 Asian Games gold medal, 2 Commonwealth gold and 1 Asian Championship attached to her name alongside 3 silver and a total of 6 bronze in international events, the hope for the first Olympics medal is awaited. The recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna can soon become the Olympic gold medallist for the very first time in wrestling for India.