In a big blow to India’s medal hopes from the wrestling arena, grappler Vinesh Phogat on August 7 was disqualified from the 50 kg women’s wrestling event. Vinesh was scheduled to take on United States’s Sarah Ann Hildebrandt in the Gold Medal watch. Phogat had entered the gold medal bout after beating Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 in the semi-finals on August 6 night. However, with her disqualification, Lopez replaced Phogat in the Olympic final. Phogat was disqualified from the Olympics after being found overweight ahead of her women’s 50 kg final in Paris. Her setback in the Olympics has certainly broken the hopes of millions of Indians.
Phogat is used to being described as stubborn. It’s her stubbornness that helped her survive intimidation, police detention, the backlash over a protest that she was spearheading, and a smear campaign that sought to portray her in a negative light even when she was punishing her body to fit into a lower-weight class just to get a chance to fight for an Olympic spot. Instead of sinking into a miasma of despair, she unloaded on her detractors a torrent of angry responses, something that proved to be a blessing in disguise as she became India’s first woman wrestler to reach the finals of the Olympics after two failed attempts over 12 years.
The most eventful among these 12 years was in 2023 when she took to the streets to protest against the alleged sexual harassment of women grapplers by the then Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. All along that tumultuous phase, she was convinced that her fight was just and in that, she prevailed too. Then, as she trained her sights on booking a ticket to the Paris Olympics, a new set of challenges stared her in the eye, as if telling her to leave the scene for good. She had to drop down to 50 kg after competing in 53 kg for more than five years. There were multiple issues with her trial bouts ahead of the Olympic qualifiers.
For the feisty wrestler from Haryana whose road to the French capital was always riddled with hurdles, a lot was at stake. Mere mortals would have caved in, but she didn’t. Instead, she switched to top gear. It was a reflection of all the things that went into the making of Phogat. Finally, her extraordinary journey, from the street protests of Delhi to the podium in Paris, culminated in a historic medal. It’s a perfect riposte to her detractors in the national federation who criticised her for her leading role in the prolonged protest against Brij Bhushan. But she grew even more determined to carry on the fight thanks to her steely resolve and an unquenchable confidence in her ability.
