Feisty wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday night put out an emotional post on social media. The star spoke up on her heart-breaking disqualification from the women’s 50kg final at the Paris Olympics 2024. Vinesh also threw light on the ups and downs of her life that included her father’s death, and her mother being diagnosed with a third-stage cancer. She thanked her coaches, physios and other support staff. However, the name of legendary wrestling coach Mahavir Phogat, who is also her uncle, was missing. However, the post didn’t go down well with Vinesh’s cousin Geeta Phogat’s husband Pawan Saroha, who pointed out that nowhere in the post was her uncle Mahavir Singh Phogat’s name mentioned. Pawan himself is a wrestler and is a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist.
“Vinesh, you have written very well but perhaps today you have forgotten your uncle Mahavir Phogat. Who started your wrestling career. May God give you pure wisdom,” wrote Pawan while re-sharing Vinesh’s post on X.
— Pawan Saroha (@pawankumar86kg) August 16, 2024
Vinesh had announced her retirement from the sport after her disqualification from the women’s 50kg final for being overweight by 100gms. She had challenged the decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but her appeal was dismissed.
In the emotional post on social media, Vinesh shared her childhood dream, the hardships she faced after losing her father and also put on record the contribution made by people in her extraordinary journey that ended in heartbreak in Paris.
“….all I want to say is that we did not give up, our efforts did not stop, and we did not surrender but the clock stopped and the time was not fair. So was my fate,” she wrote, referring to the work she did with her team before the second day weigh-in.
“To my team, my fellow Indians and my family, it feels like: the goal that we were working towards and what we had planned to achieve is unfinished, that something might always remain missing, and that things might never be the same again.
“Maybe under different circumstances, I could see myself playing till 2032, because the fight in me and wrestling in me will always be there. I can’t predict what the future holds for me, and what awaits me in this journey next, but I am sure that I will continue to fight always for what I believe in and for the right thing,” she wrote.
(With PTI Inputs)
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