Vinesh Phogat's Credits Coach's Strategic Shift For the Victory Over Japan's Yui Susaki at Olympics

As Vinesh Phogat made it to the final of the women's 50kg wrestling competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, she garnered attention. She was disqualified on the last day for being overweight, therefore she was unable to compete in the much-anticipated final match. This gave rise to disappointment.

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Vinesh Phogat reveals how she pulled one of the biggest upsets of the Paris Olympics 2024 

By beating Yui Susaki, the Japanese wrestler with an outstanding 82-0 international record, Vinesh Phogat stunned everyone in the first round of the 50kg division at the Paris Olympics . Early on, Vinesh well defended against a dangerous leg assault and gave up two penalty points for inactivity. In the last seconds, she launched a strong counterattack to guarantee her triumph over the famous athlete.

Vinesh thanks Woller Akos, her coach, for the victory as he pushed her to rethink her initial all-out attack plan. Speaking to the Indian Express, Vinesh Phogat said: 

The way Coach Woller understands me, I don’t think any other coach can. Till the eve of the bout against Susaki, my plan was different from what the coach had in mind. My plan was to attack. I had decided in my head that I would attack and then she would attack. Chhay minute tak jiska dam jyada hoga, nikal jayegi (Whoever is stronger in the six minutes, she will win),”

Her coach drew her aside on the day Vinesh was playing against Suski to caution her against approaching the Japanese champion aggressively. She added: 

“The coach told me that to beat someone like Susaki, there is only one way — keep her down to one or two points. And keep it like that till almost the end. In the last 30 seconds, the coach told me I should give my best performance. Do what I can to attack, push, pull… but attack in those last 30 seconds only,” Vinesh said, adding that she didn’t have to worry about Susaki attacking the body.

“Susaki’s main target is the leg. Japanese wrestlers don’t generally attack the upper body. They strengthen their position using the upper body but their target is the lower body. I didn’t have to worry about an upper body attack where she would execute a throw or a dhobi.”

“The coach told me that I will concede the first point because of passivity. And if I keep defending, I will be docked again for passivity. (Vinesh conceded a point in each of the rounds after being put on the passivity clock). He told me not to be under pressure even if I give away points for passivity, but not to concede more than two points. The key was to keep an eye on the clock to note when it came down to the last 30 seconds. The coach told me ‘you are an experienced wrestler’ and that I will be able to do that. He said he would also try and alert me about the clock.”

Susaki is known for aggressively attacking her competitors with unrelenting pressure. She lunged for Vinesh's legs in the latter minutes of the first round, but Vinesh deftly repelled the attack. This turned out to be quite a turning point in the game.

Vinesh progressed to the 50kg weight class final after defeating Suski. She was unfortunately discovered to be 100 grammes above the limit on the second weigh-in on the day of the final and was disqualified, thereby departing without a medal.