PARIS (AP) — India's Vinesh Phogat stunned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan with a late takedown to claim a 3-2 decision in their opening match in the 50-kilogram division at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
Susaki, the seemingly unbeatable top seed in Paris, won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago without conceding a point.
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PARIS (AP) — India's Vinesh Phogat stunned four-time world and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan with a late takedown to claim a 3-2 decision in their opening match in the 50-kilogram division at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, celebrates after defeating Japan's Yui Susaki in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Phogat didn't stop after upsetting Susaki. She won her quarterfinal match against Ukraine's Oksana Livach 7-5, then won her semifinal against Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 to become the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic final.
Phogat will wrestle American Sarah Hildebrandt for the gold medal on Wednesday. Hildebrandt defeated Mongolia's Otgonjargal Dolgorjav 5-0 in the other semifinal.
It's been quite a journey for Phogat. She tore an anterior cruciate ligament during her Olympic quarterfinal in 2016 and was taken out on a stretcher. She had never placed higher than ninth at the Olympics or third at a world championship event.
Because Phogat reached the final, Susaki has a chance to fight for a bronze medal through repechage. She will face Livach on Wednesday.
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japan's Yui Susaki and India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, compete in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
India's Vinesh Vinesh, left, celebrates after defeating Japan's Yui Susaki in the round of 16 of the women's freestyle 50kg wrestling match, at Champ-de-Mars Arena, during the 2024 Summer Olympics, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tropical Storm Francine was strengthening in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, drenching coastal Mexico and Texas on its way to hit Louisiana as a hurricane on Wednesday night.
“We’re going to have a very dangerous situation developing by the time we get into Wednesday for portions of the north-central Gulf Coast, primarily along the coast of Louisiana, where we’re going to see the potential for life-threatening storm surge inundation and hurricane-force winds,” said Michael Brennan, director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Heavy rain was already falling in northeastern Mexico and deep South Texas, where some places could get up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) into Monday night, Brennan said. By early Monday afternoon, the hurricane center said the storm was becoming stronger and better organized.
Francine is taking aim at a stretch of coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of the destruction was imploded after sitting vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps.
The storm surge pushed by Francine could reach as much as 10 feet (3 meters) along a stretch of Louisiana coastline from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said. And if the current track holds, the storm could blow northward up the Mississippi River, into the Illinois area by Saturday.
“Francine is expected to bring multiple days of heavy rainfall, considerable flash flooding risk,” Brennan said.
Louisiana officials urged residents to immediately prepare for the storm while “conditions still allow” for it, Mike Steele, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told The Associated Press.
Storms like Francine can rapidly intensify, and people don't have the luxury of days to prepare, Steele said.
“We always talk about how anytime something gets into the Gulf, things can change quickly, and this is a perfect example of that,” Steele said.
Residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana's riverfront capital, began forming long lines as people filled up their gas tanks and stocked up on groceries. Others went to fill sandbags at city-operated locations to try to keep floodwaters from entering their homes.
“It’s crucial that all of us take this storm very seriously and begin our preparations immediately,” Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said during a news conference Monday morning.
She urged residents to prepare a disaster supply kit, complete with enough food, water and essential supplies for three days.
A mandatory evacuation was ordered for seven remote coastal communities by the Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. They include Holly Beach, a laid-back stretch dubbed Louisiana’s “Cajun Riviera,” where many homes sit on stilts. The storm-battered town has been a low-cost paradise for oil industry workers, families and retirees, rebuilt multiple times after being struck by hurricanes.
And in Grand Isle, Louisiana’s last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardelle recommended residents evacuate and ordered a mandatory evacuation for those in recreational vehicles. Hurricane Ida decimated the city three years ago, damaging almost all of its 2,500 structures and destroying 700 homes.
Officials warn that flooding in the area is likely to begin Tuesday afternoon and persist through Thursday. There are also threats of high winds, downed trees and power outages.
The hurricane center said early Monday afternoon that Francine was located about 180 miles (285 kilometers) south-southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and about 450 miles (720 kilometers ) south-southwest of Cameron, Louisiana, sustaining top winds of about 60 miles per hour (95 kilometers per hour). It was moving north-northwest at 5 mph (7 kph).
Flooding in northern Mexico forced schools to close Monday and Tuesday in Matamoros, across the border from Brownsville, Texas. Marco Antonio Hernandez Acosta, manager of the Matamoros Water and Drainage Board, said they were waiting for Mexico's federal government to provide pumps to drain the affected areas.
The storm is expected to be centered just offshore through Tuesday, and then intensify significantly from Tuesday night into Wednesday as it nears the upper Texas coast and Louisiana, according to the hurricane center.
A storm surge watch is in effect from the Texas coast near Houston across the entire coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, while a hurricane watch has been issued for much of the Louisiana coast, from Cameron to Grand Isle.
Stengle contributed to this story from Dallas and Alfredo Peña contributed to this report from Ciudad Victoria, Mexico.
Weather begins to form from Tropical Storm Francine on the Harrison County Beaches in Pass Christian, Miss. Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via AP)
Tuff Gary, left, and Morgan LeBlanc with their children Hudson, Tuff, Jr., and Zander, of Jenning, La., watch the implosion of the Hertz Tower, that was heavily damaged after Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020 in Lake Charles, La., Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The Hertz Tower, which was heavily damaged after Hurricanes Laura and Delta in 2020, is imploded in Lake Charles, La., Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Weather begins to form from Tropical Storm Francine on the Harrison County Beaches in Pass Christian, Miss. Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via AP)
Weather begins to form from Tropical Storm Francine on the Harrison County Beaches in Pass Christian, Miss. Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (Hunter Dawkins/The Gazebo Gazette via AP)
Tropical Storm Francine forms off Mexico, aiming for the Louisiana coast
Tropical Storm Francine forms off Mexico, aiming for the Louisiana coast
This Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024 satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico expected to bring significant rainfall to parts of Texas and Louisiana this week, possibly developing into a stronger storm, including a hurricane, according to the National Weather Service. (NOAA via AP)
