ROME: Star wrestler Vinesh Phogat put herself in contention for a second consecutive gold by reaching the 53kg final in a jiffy while Sarita Mor settled for a silver medal at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series event, here.
In her four bouts, Vinesh had to wrestle only twice as she got walkovers in the other two on Saturday.
And the two bouts that she fought, Vinesh won those by pinning her rivals — first her compatriot Nandini Bajirao Saolkhe in the first round and then Canadian Samantha Leigh Stewart in the semifinal, which lasted a mere 42 seconds.
She did not have to move a sinew in the second round against Kazakhstan’s Tatyana Akhmetova Amanzhol and Ecuador’s Luisa Elizabeth as they forfeited their bouts against the Indian due to their respective injuries.
Vinesh came into the competition after winning a gold in Kiev, Ukraine.
In the wee hours of Saturday, Sarita went down 2-4 to Giullia Penalber of Bulgaria in the title bout to settle for the silver. The other Indian in the same weight category, Anshu Malik forfeited her bronze play-off against Italy’s Francesca Indelicato due to an injury.
Greco Rooman wrestler Kuldeep Malik though grabbed his chance by winning the 72kg bronze play-off against Russia’s Chingiz Labazanov.
Meanwhile in the men’s freestyle competition, Satywart Kadian bowed from the 97kg competition after suffering a crushing 1-8 defeat at the hands of Turkey’s Ibrahim Ciftci.
In the 125kg, Sumit Malik could win only one of his four bouts.