Vinesh Phogat exits wrestling to knock at leadership
Image credit X.com @sonusood
Olympian Vinesh Phogat vows safe future for women wrestlers
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, August 8: Ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling. Phogat, 29, posted an emotional message, saying that “wrestling defeated her”.
Disqualification of Phogat from the Paris Olympics is now a political issue. The Congress has claimed conspiracy in the disqualification.
The argumentative Indians are now fairly sensitised about the issue of weight in the Olympic games. The lords of the world wrestling federation have said that Phogat could not have been given the silver medal.
Watch: Vinesh Phogat I विनेश फोगाट को चोटिल घोषित किया जा सकता था और उनका रजत पदक पक्का हो जाता: Congress
Yet, Naib Singh Saini, the Haryana chief minister, has announced that Phogat is a silver medal winner for the state. An emotional India is saying that Phogat has won more than a gold medal.
Phogat has given hints of what she will be doing after leaving the wrestling mat. She will ensure that young women wrestlers can wrestle safely.
The Olympian from Haryana will, thus, set out to take her Jantar Mantar protests to their logical conclusion. She had led the wrestlers in their agitation against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, ex-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MP from Qaiserganj in Uttar Pradesh.
“I am fighting for the future generation of wrestlers. Not for myself, my career is done and this is my last Olympics,” Phogat told ESPN.
Watch: TMC MP Saayoni Ghosh in Lok Sabha I 10 साल बाद किसान कह रहे, मोदी है तो नामुमकिन है: सायोनी घोष I
She was further quoted, saying: “I want to fight for the young women wrestlers who will come and fight for them so that they can wrestle safely. That’s why I was in Jantar Mantar, and that’s why I am here.”
The people will, thus, see more of Phogat in the coming days. Her boxing peer Vijendra Singh had made a political plunge during the Lok Sabha elections, wearing a saffron hue.
The Congress fielded Randeep Singh Surjewala yesterday to talk conspiracy against Phogat. Surjewala is a Rahul Gandhi loyalist from Haryana.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann had rushed to meet Phogat’s uncle Mahavir Singh Phogat yesterday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader raised dusts off the road with a long cavalcade on way to the famous Charkhi Dadri village in Haryana.
The senior Phogat is already a legend. Amir Khan had essayed his character in the film Dangal. The film had taken the Bollywood to China where the Communist mandarins screened Amir Khan-starrer to further motivate the youngsters for sporting glories.
Union Minister for Sports Mansukh Mandaviya reeled out statistics to tell the Lok Sabha yesterday that the government indeed spent hugely on the wrestlers. But the Opposition MPs were unimpressed.
By all indications, Phogat will touch down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to smell grounds in Haryana fertile for her next move. On the mat she pinned down rivals with guiles. She may need to hone her skills further as lords of guiles may be her next rivals.
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