Vinesh Phogat
Mahaveer’s niece
Weight category: 48 kg;
Gold in Commonwealth Games 2014, Bronze in Asian Games 2014; part of Indian team at Rio Olympics
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
A profile
The Times of India, May 9, 2015
Third in line among the Phogat sisters, Vinesh wants to be the first Indian woman to bring home an Olympic wrestling medal. The 20-year-old clinched gold at the Commonwealth Games followed by a bronze at the Asian Games in 48kg category. She is the cousin of Geeta and Babita.
Ranked 11th in the world
Sep 13 2016 , Vinesh Phogat -who made an exit in the quarterfinals after a knee injury during the Olympics, climbed up two places to 11th position in the 48kg category in the UWW (United World Wrestling) rankings,.
Performance
2016, an analysis
The Times of IndiaDec 25 2016
VINESH PHOGAT
Vinesh Phogat's consistent performances over the past two years -a gold in Glasgow Commonwealth Games followed by a bronze in the Incheon Asian Games in 2014, had put her among the strong medal contenders. However, unlike Sakshi Malik, she couldn't return home with an Olympic medal from Rio, owing to a knee injury. After a bye in the opening round and a one-sided pre-quarterfinals, Vinesh was leading in the 48kg quarterfinal before luck turned against her.
Midway into the bout, Vinesh dislocated her knee and had to be stretchered out, eventually conceding her bout to China's Sun Yanan, who went on to win the bronze.
2017: Suspension revoked
Sabi Hussain, WFI U-turn: Vinesh Phogat suspension lifted, November 11, 2017: The Times of India
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has done a U-turn on the issue of Vinesh Phogat's suspension. The federation, which had taken a high moral ground while suspending the star woman freestyle wrestler for indiscipline, has revoked her suspension just days ahead of the senior Nationals in Indore. This happened after the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallist tendered an unconditional apology for keeping the federation in dark about her injury, it's been reliably learnt.
The lifting of suspension means Vinesh, a cousin of the Phogat sisters of 'Dangal' fame - Geeta and Babita - will be able to take part in Nationals from November 15-18, which was under doubt until recently. She will represent the Railways.
The case of 74kg wrestler Praveen Rana and 66kg Greco-Roman grappler Ravinder Khatri is the same. They had also been suspended by the WFI for indiscipline a couple of months back and will now be able to participate in the Nationals.
However, more than these two, WFI's flip-flop on Vinesh is surprising. When this correspondent had spoken to WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh a couple of weeks back, he had categorically stated that Vinesh would not be allowed to participate come what may, as the wrestler was required to be taught a lesson in discipline.
"If she was injured, she should have told us beforehand. Pulling out of an international tournament - Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan - at the eleventh hour is not at all acceptable," Singh had then said.
"Not only did we fail to send a wrestler's name as the last-minute replacement, we also lost out on a possible medal opportunity in the 48kg category. Her case has been transferred to our disciplinary committee which will take a call on her future. She has been suspended and wouldn't be allowed to compete in Nationals at any cost," he had added, while also stating that even her participation in the Commonwealth Championships in South Africa in December was uncertain.
But Bhushan has had a sudden change of heart, which leads to a pertinent question: If WFI was to allow a wrestler to return back to competitive fold by withdrawing the disciplinary proceedings against him/her, then what's the point of imposing a suspension in the first place?
