Vinesh Phogat strikes Gold at Spanish Grand Prix

India's Paris Olympics-bound wrestler Vinesh Phogat got a perfect build-up for the 2024 Games as she won a Gold medal at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid on Saturday, July 6. The Indian grappler defeated Mariia Tiumerekova 10-5 to clinch the yellow metal.

Vinesh had a perfect Spanish Grand Prix as she defeated everyone who came up against her. The two-time World Championship bronze medallist got the better of Pan-American champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba 12-4 in her first bout. 

Vinesh was then up against the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Madison Parks of Canada and the Indian defeated her by fall. She outclassed Canada's Katie Dutchak 9-4 on points in the semifinals. 

The 29-year-old Indian will travel to France after her training-cum-competition stint in Spain. She will have a training stint of 20 days in France ahead of the Paris Games at the end of



July. This is Vinesh's third Olympics, after featuring in Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021.

Notably, Vinesh had spoken up on her visa issues for reaching Spain on her social media. She requested for urgent help to reach Schengen and got help within hours of her message. "Dear authorities, I'm requesting for urgent help. I applied for my Schengen visa in Bangalore on 24th June. I have to leave tonight for a competition in Spain on 6th July but have no information on visa. "Requesting @mansukhmandviya @BangaloreFrance @MEABharat to help," Vinesh wrote on X. 

Within a few hours, she confirmed that she had received her Schengen visa. "I have just now received my Schengen visa. I would like to sincerely thank all the authorities who have helped me get the visa so quickly. Means a lot. Thank you @mansukhmandviya @BangaloreFrance @MEABharat @DGSAI, TOPS and MOC team," she wrote in another post on X a few hours later.