Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was disqualified from Paris Olympics 2024 for being 100gms overweight, has joined Congress party ahead of Haryana Assembly Polls.
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has become hero to many Indians around the world even though she failed to bring home a medal from the Paris Olympics 2024. Vinesh, who had stormed into the women’s 50kg wrestling final, was disqualified on the second day of weigh-in for being 100gms overweight. Since her return from Paris, Vinesh has taken a plunge into active politics and is now Congress party’s candidate from Julana in upcoming Haryana elections.
Vinesh had also unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to be awarded at least a silver medal for winning all her matches to reach the final. She slammed Indian Olympics Association (IOA) president PT Usha’s visit to meet her in the Paris Olympics Games Village as just a ‘photo opportunity’.
“I was told that PT Usha was coming … I wasn’t even fully conscious. I was dizzy after becoming unconscious. I was made to sit up. It was to post a photo and then tell the media that Vinesh is ‘okay’. In reality, I was not. All this was done to show the media and escape responsibility. All that she told me was ‘Hum tumhare saath mein hai. Theek hai?’ (We are with you, ok),” Vinesh Phogat told in an interview to Indian Express newspaper.
President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) PT Usha met Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, in Paris, France
She was disqualified today from the Women’s Wrestling 50kg for being overweight.
(Pic source: IOA) pic.twitter.com/eKRCilr2lG
— ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2024
PT Usha had visited Vinesh after Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had informed the Parliament that PM Narendra Modi had asked for the IOA chief to be with the Indian wrestler, who was recovering in the Games Village medical centre after whole night of extreme weight loss measures.
The 29-year-old Indian wrestler revealed that she was ‘blank’ after being informed that she had failed to make the cut in the second weigh-in. “I was blank. I started begging and pleading. I was telling them – ‘Check again, check again’. There was this Hungarian girl there who is a friend. She had tears in her eyes and said ‘I wish I could do something’. Suddenly, my body was lifeless,” Vinesh said in the interview.
Vinesh called for at least some allowance for the women wrestlers in the second day of an event in the aftermath of her disqualification.
“There needs to be an allowance, especially for women since their body structure is different from men. Women can’t lose more than 3 kg in a day when you are at peak fitness because your fat percent is already very low. Men wrestlers can but we cannot because our body retains water. All women athletes are concerned about the weight cut on the second day. At the Games Village, there were at least 50 athletes, from different sports, who hugged me and said that this is wrong,” Vinesh added.
