Vinesh Phogat, Reetika, Anshu Malik Secure Paris Olympics Quotas For India

Making a strong comeback to international arena after leading a prolonged protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, celebrated Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat locked Paris Olympics quota in women's 50kg category with a strong show at the Asian Olympic Qualifier in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on Saturday. Also punching their tickets to Paris Olympics were Anshu Malik (57kg) and U23 world champion Reetika (76kg), who also reached the final of the tournament with solid performances.

India now have secured four quota places for the Paris Games as Antim Panghal had earned a quota in the 53kg category with her bronze medal winning show at the World Championships last year.

It will be interesting to see if WFI lets the quota winners to represent India or hold a final selection trial to pick the national wrestling team.

In the Tokyo Games, India had fielded a strong seven-wrestler team that had four women -- Seema Bisla (50kg), Vinesh (53kg), Anshu (57kg) and Sonam Malik (62kg).

No male wrestler has yet earned a quota. The last chance to win the Paris Games quota will be at the World Qualifiers in Turkey from May 9.

The 29-year-old Vinesh has now secured her third straight Olympic quota, having featured in Rio Games (2016) and in Tokyo (2020) earlier.

Vinesh dished out a strong performance, demolishing her opponents one by one.

After losing several months of training due to the prolonged protest against Brij Bhushan and the ongoing legal battle, it was a challenge for Vinesh to secure a quota and she did that, making full use of an easy draw.

As is her wont, Vinesh looked for that one opportunity to subdue Miran Cheon in her opening bout and grabbed it after measuring her Korean rival for about 30 seconds.

Once she