Sangeeta Phogat, one of the six wrestlers who demonstrated at Jantar Mantar against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, earned a bronze medal on Saturday in the non-Olympic 59kg division in the Hungary Ranking Series competition. Sangeeta started off with a devastating loss by fall but recovered to win her next match. Though she was defeated 6-2 by young Hungarian Viktoria Borsos, the silver medalist from the U-20 World Championship, in the bronze play-off, she won her semifinal.
Sangeeta, who finished first in the 62 kg division at the National Championship last year, started off by losing to American Jennifer Page Rogers through fall.
The American pulled away with a right leg assault that resulted in a takedown and many rolls, ending the match in just 80 seconds. The American eventually placed herself in a position to pin Sangeeta.
The Indian was able to shake off any rust in her second match against Brenda Olivia Reyna of America and was swift in her movements. She had a 4-2 advantage at the half and continued building on it to eventually win by technical dominance.
She faced Poland’s Magdalena Urszula Glodek in the semifinal after a six-wrestler tie resulted in one victory and one loss for her.
Sangeeta started double-leg assaults but lacked the strength to score from them. She did, however, lead twice—once at 2-0 and again at 4-2—but Glodek’s counterattacking techniques were effective enough for him to quickly speed to a 6-4 victory.
Sangeeta started out strong with a takedown over hometown favorite Borsos in the bronze medal match. The Hungarian rallied to tie the score at 2-2, but Sangeeta quickly launched a swift assault.
Sangeeta broke through the strong defense put up by Borsos to take the lead 4-2.
Sangeeta won the bronze medal in the second phase without losing a single point and even added two to her total.
