Vinesh Phogat's Olympic dreams come to an unfortunate end, as an injury to her right knee just 18 seconds from the end of the first period, saw her Chinese opponent Sun Yanan win 2-1 and go through to the semifinals of the women's wrestling 48 kg category.
Sun, who won the world championship gold in 2013, showed an eagerness to attack Vinesh on her right elbow, which she had injured in her round of 16 match earlier in the day, but Vinesh showed great defensive prowess in the early stages of the match to thwart her opponent. Sun was pulled up for passivity 94 seconds into the bout, and Vinesh was able to register her first points in the match.
Close to the end of the first period, Vinesh tried to attack Sun with a leg lock, but the Chinese wrestler countered, and in the ensuing tangle, Vinesh appeared to twist her knee quite badly. A stretcher was brought onto the mat and medical attention paid to Vinesh, even as Sun stood by watching with tears in her eyes.
Earlier, Sun had registered a 14-4 win by technical fall over Jasmine Mian of Canada.
Vinesh had earlier posted an emphatic 11-0 win by Great Superiority over former junior world championship silver-medallist Alina Vuc of Romania to advance to the quarterfinals.
There was a scare for the Indian inside the first twenty seconds, as Vinesh had to pull away from her opponent after seemingly injuring her right elbow. She picked up two points by bringing Vuc into the danger position on the minute-mark, and then doubled her advantage by flipping her over. With the Indian leading 4-0, it was Vuc's turn to have some medical attention. When play resumed, Vuc tried to attack Vinesh with a leg-hold, but the 21-year-old swiftly converted it into attack to open up a 6-0 lead by the end of the first period of three minutes.
In the second round, it was Vuc who made the early running, but on the two-minute mark, Vinesh capitalised on a defensive error by Vuc to get a hold of her and throw her to the mat. The referee granted her four points for this move, which the Romanian's corner protested. The protest was rejected, and in fact five points were awarded to Vinesh, giving her a comprehensive win.