Vinesh Phogat in Nordic round wrestling at Commonwealth Games: Rules, format, points system explained

Vinesh Phogat and Pooja Gehlot have been slotted in the Nordic rounds in their wrestling weight categories.

Vinesh Phogat will have to work her way through a Nordic round to get to her third CWG gold medal. | Photo Credit: AP

After securing six medals from the wrestling mat on Friday, including three gold medals, the Indian grapplers will be out today to enhance their tally.

One of India’s prime prospect for a gold medal today is Vinesh Phogat (women’s 53 kg), a two-time CWG gold medallist. She, along with Pooja Ghelot (women’s 50kg), have been slotted in the Nordic system

What is Nordic System in wrestling?

According to United World Wrestling, the Nordic format is employed in wrestling if there are less than 6 wrestlers in a weigh-in category. In such a scenario each wrestler will have a bout against each other.

Only 4 classification points will be allocated for the victory - by fall, default, forfeit, or disqualification - in the Nordic tournament system.

In the Nordic tournament, the wrestler with the highest number of victories will be ranked first, regardless of the total number of classification points. If two wrestlers have an equal number of classification points, their direct match will determine the winner.

The wrestler who won against his opponent will be ranked before the other one.

If more than two wrestlers have an equal number of classification points, the last of the group will be determined following these criteria until only two wrestlers remain:

• The fewest victories by Fall
• The fewest match victories by superiority -
• The fewest technical points scored in the whole competition
• The most technical points given in the whole competition

Once that is done, the head-to-head result of the last two wrestlers will be take into consideration for determining the winner.

Other than Vinesh Phogat, there are only three other wrestlers in the 53 kg women’s category - Samantha Stewart (Canada), Mercy Adekuoroye (Nigeria) and Chamodya Keshani Maduravalage (Sri Lanka).

So today, Phogat will face all three of the above mentioned wrestlers and will secure a gold medal for sure if she wins all three of her bouts. If she succeeds to win only two or less of them, she might have to rely on one of the criteria mentioned earlier to win her third CWG gold medal.  

Pooja Gehlot’s weight category has six wrestlers in it. She has been slotted in the Group A of the Nordic round. She will face Scotland’s Christelle Letchidjio and Cameroon’s Rebecca Muambo in the group stage. The top two from Gehlot’s group and Group B will head on to the semifinals.