Vinesh in final, Sarita settles for silver; Kuldeep bags bronze in Rome

In her four bouts at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series, India's Vinesh Phogat had to wrestle only twice as she got walkovers in the other two on Saturday.

Indian wrestling sensation Vinesh Phogat came into the competition in Rome after wining a gold medal in the Ukrainian city of Kiev (File Photo).

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 in Rome on Saturday.

In her four bouts, Vinesh had to wrestle only twice as she got walkovers in the other two. In the two bouts that she fought, Vinesh won 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.

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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 the bouts against the Indian due to their respective injuries. Vinesh came into the competition after wining a gold in Kiev, Ukraine.

On the other hand, Sarita went down 2-4 to Giullia Penalber of Bulgaria in the title bout to settle for the silver medal. The other Indian in the same weight category, Anshu Malik, forfeited her bronze playoff against Italy's Francesca Indelicato due to an injury.

Greco Roman wrestler Kuldeep Malik grabbed his chance though by winning the 72kg bronze playoff against Russia's Chingiz Labazanov.

Meanwhile in the men's freestyle competition, Satywart Kadian bowed out 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.