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Vinesh Phogat of India reaches the final of women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling after beating Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman, becoming the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic wrestling final.

Her journey to the Olympics has been one filled with a myriad of challenges. Phogat was one of the leading faces of wrestler protests against the Wrestling Federation of India’s then president, who was accused of sexual abuse and intimidation by multiple female wrestlers. She, along with other wrestlers, endured harsh conditions and confrontations with the police and slept on the pavement for over 40 days in a sit in protest. She then missed out on Asian games with a knee injury.

She made a return to competitive wrestling after 15 months this year.

She beat the reigning champion Yui Susaki of Japan, who had never lost an international match before, in the opening round, and then went on to beat Ukraine’s Oksana Livach in the quarter-final.

Phogat tore her ACL at the Olympic quarterfinal in Rio 2016, which nearly ended her career, and now she is the first Indian woman to reach the wrestling finals of the Olympics.