Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has announced her retirement from wrestling after a gruelling experience at the Paris Olympics that saw her being disqualified from the tournament after making the final.
Vinesh failed to make weight during the second weigh-in (on the day of the final) and was disqualified from the tournament, losing her assured medal too along the way.
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The 29-year-old Vinesh had become the first Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympic final in wrestling. Sakshi Malik, the only other woman wrestler to win an Olympic medal for India, had clinched a bronze medal at Rio 2016.
In a social media post in the wee hours of Thursday morning, Vinesh posted on her X account: “Mother, wrestling won against me, I lost. Forgive me as your dreams and my strength are broken. I do not have any more strength left in me. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will always be indebted to all of you. Forgive me.”
“Goodbye wrestling. I’ll always be indebted to you. Sorry.”
A two-time Olympian, Vinesh has three Commonwealth Games golds, two World Championships bronze medals and one Asian Games gold medal to her name. She was also crowned Asian champion in 2021.
Vinesh hails from the illustrious Phogat wrestling family. Her cousins, Geeta, Sangeeta and Babita are also wrestlers. Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia is married to her cousin Sangeeta.
The last eighteen months were particularly hard for the veteran wrestler. For most part of 2023, Vinesh, alongside Sakshi and Bajrang, led a protest against the erstwhile administrators of the Wrestling Federation of India, then led by longterm president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
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Vinesh and Sakshi levelled allegations of sexual harassment and mental abuse among other serious grievances of abuse of power within the federation and spent many weeks protesting on the streets at Jantar Mantar. The protests helped turn the spotlight on the Wrestling Federation of India which was suspended until fair governing practices ensued.
The UWW lifted the provisional suspension of the WFI in February 2024, but required the Federation to guarantee that no discriminatory action would be taken against Bajrang, Sakshi, or Vinesh. Things took a positive turn for Vinesh as she won gold in the 55kg category at the nationals, marking her return to competitive wrestling after nearly 16 months.
Vinesh had locked her Paris Olympics quota in women’s 50kg category by reaching the final at the Asian Olympic qualifier. She beat Laura Ganikyzy in the semifinal. WFI said that they would not conduct Olympic trials and the wrestlers who won the quota would compete in Paris.
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