Injured Vinesh sidelined for two weeks

Amid the celebrations over Sakshi Malik's bronze medal, the Indian contingent at the ongoing Rio Olympics received another piece of good news with doctors announcing that her fellow female wrestler Vinesh Phogat will recover from her injury within two weeks.

Vinesh had sustained what seemed to be a serious knee injury during her bout against Sun Yanan of China in the quarter-finals of the Women's Freestyle 48kg category at the Carioca Arena 2 here on Wednesday.

"She has only a tendon tear, no fracture. The doctors said she would recover in a couple of weeks since there was no fracture," Indian chef de mission Rakesh Gupta announced.

The Haryana grappler, one of India's best bets for a medal, had received a bye in the opening round. She then started her campaign on a rousing note with a dominant 11-0 thrashing of Alina Emilia of Romania in the pre-quarterfinals.

However, disaster struck during the quarter-finals as Vinesh twisted her leg badly while attempting a hold on her Chinese opponent.

The 21-year-old, who was leading 1-0 at the time also lost her grip following the injury allowing Sun to score a couple of points and take the lead.

The match was immediately stopped to allow medical attention to Vinesh. After the Indian physio declared that Vinesh will not be able to continue, Sun, who was leading 2-1, was declared the winner by injury.

Vinesh, who got her injured knee wrapped, was taken off on a stretcher as the injury seemed to be a very serious one.

(Hardev Sanotra can be contacted at hardev.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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