Maintaining weight will be a challenge for next four months, says Vinesh Phogat

Vinesh Phogat overcomes challenges to secure Olympic quota in 50kg category, determined to win medal at Paris Games.

Locking the Olympic quota would put Vinesh Phogat at ease for a few days but the fiery Indian wrestler says maintaining weight having dropped to the lowest class of 50kg will be a huge challenge in the build-up to the Paris Games.

Vinesh dished out an impressive show at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers, where she did not concede a single point in an easy draw and sealed her third consecutive Olympic quota.

Vinesh, 29, lost crucial mat-time for one and a half years due to the protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and in that period, Antim Panghal secured a quota place in 53kg category -- a pet weight division of Vinesh.

The most successful woman wrestler from the country had no option but to switch the weight category to ensure that she does not miss the bus to Olympics.

"I will have to manage my weight a lot better. I have brought myself down to 50kg after so long so I will try and maintain this as much as I can. It's not easy for me not to put on weight because my muscle mass is very high," Vinesh said after winning the 50kg quota for India.

"Because of that, I gain weight easily. It doesn't matter how fit I am, I still gain weight because I have a lot of muscle mass. I just want to control my weight. I have four months left, and every day is very important," she was quoted as saying by official UWW website.

“I did the weight switch because I didn’t have any option, not out of happiness. But I won a quota for my country in the 50kg category. I am happy that I can go to the Olympics. Whether I go in the 50kg category or in the 53kg category, that will be decided in the trials, but, whatever it is, I won a quota for my country.” Vinesh has already suffered heartbreaks at the Rio Olympics and Tokyo Games where she was eliminated quite early despite being a medal favourite.