Vinesh, Bajrang's return to competition since Tokyo marked by loss & injury

Vinesh Phogat's return to the competition mat didn't go as planned, as the reigning CWG and Asian Games champion went down tamely to USA's Jacarra Winchester in the semifinals of the Yasar Dogu international ranking series in Istanbul late on Saturday. Vinesh lost 3-7 to Winchester, a former world champion, in the women's freestyle 55kg category. The Indian wasn't participating in her usual weight category of 53kg at the meet.

Later, Vinesh lost her bronze medal playoff match against Russia's Ekatarina Isakova 5-12 'by fall' in the repechage to return empty-handed from the event. It was the first time in seven months that Vinesh was competing in a tournament since her disastrous Tokyo Olympics campaign where she had made a shock quarterfinal exit against Belarus' Vanesa Kaladzinskaya. Winchester's victory was special, as the American wrestled against Vinesh for the first time in her career.

She pinned her opponent down after building a considerable lead in both periods of the play. "Vinesh was awesome. I always wanted to wrestle her.

My teammates have wrestled her but I have never and I wanted her to be on the same side [of the bracket], and that's what I got. I celebrated at the end [after the win]," Winchester later told the United World Wrestling (UWW). Winchester later went on to secure gold after defeating Poland's Katarzyna Krawczyk 7-4.

Vinesh had originally planned to return at the Matteo Pellicone ranking series tournament in Rome from February 4-7. But, the tournament was rescheduled to June by the UWW owing to the spread of Covid-19's omicron variant. In the men's freestyle competition, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist in the 65kg category, Bajrang Punia, was forced to pull out of the event after injuring his