New Delhi: Commonwealth gold medallist woman grappler Vinesh Phogat and silver medallist Sakshi Malik on Saturday booked quota places for the Rio Games at the second world Olympic qualifying tournament in Istanbul.
Vinesh and Sakshi made the cut for Rio by virtue of making the finals of women’s 48kg and 58kg respectively on Day Two of the event. This is the last opportunity to make the cut for the August bound Games and only the top two finishers in each weight category are eligible for a quota berth.
It was a commendable performance from Vinesh as she put behind the disappointment of getting disqualified in Mongolia for being 400gm overweight.
Vinesh thrashed Nataliya Pulkovska of Ukraine 10-0 in her qualification bout before putting away Julie Martine Sabatie of France 11-0 in the pre-quarterfinal battle. She beat Yumi Lee of Korea 11-1 in the quarterfinal and Evin Demirhan of Turkey 12-2 in the semifinals.
Meanwhile Sakshi got the better of Irene Garcia Garrido of Spain 10-0 followed by Zhydachevska Kateryna of Romania 12-2 in the quarterfinals and then beat China’s Lan Zhang in a closely-fought semi-final to make the final.
