Don’t have strength for more: Vinesh Phogat retires from wrestling

29-year-old, who was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout, announces her decision on social media

Paris: Her long-cherished Olympic dream shattered by a cruel twist of fate, Vinesh Phogat on Thursday bid adieu to her international wrestling career, saying she doesn’t have the strength to continue anymore.

The 29-year-old, who was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout in the Olympics on Wednesday, announced her decision on social media, seeking forgiveness from everyone who supported her.

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Addressing her mother Premlata, Vinesh wrote, “Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken.” “I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me),” added the two-time World Championships bronze medallist.

माँ कुश्ती मेरे से जीत गई मैं हार गई माफ़ करना आपका सपना मेरी हिम्मत सब टूट चुके इससे ज़्यादा ताक़त नहीं रही अब।

अलविदा कुश्ती 2001-2024 🙏

आप सबकी हमेशा ऋणी रहूँगी माफी 🙏🙏

— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) August 7, 2024

Her stunning decision comes a day after Vinesh appealed against her disqualification from the Olympic finals on Wednesday in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal.

An ad-hoc division of the CAS, which has been set up here for resolution of any disputes arising during the Olympic Games or during a period of 10 days preceding the Opening Ceremony, will take up her appeal in the next few hours.

She spent a good part of the day at a polyclinic inside the Games village owing to severe dehydration caused by her desperate measures to make the cut, which included going hungry, avoiding fluids and staying up all night to sweat it out.

Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinals, replaced her in the final against American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt won the bout to claim gold and Vinesh is now banking on CAS to be a joint silver medallist with Lopez.

However, the sport’s international governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW) has made it clear on its part that the current weigh-in rule will not be changed as of now. “On IOA’s suggestion that a wrestler’s results from the day on which the athlete met the weigh-in requirements should not be disqualified, the UWW president was sympathetic. UWW will also discuss the suggestion at an appropriate platform but it could not be done retrospectively,” the world body said in a statement late on Wednesday after its President Nenad Lalovic met IOA chief PT Usha.

Vinesh had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout in her category on Tuesday night. She was assured of at least a silver medal before the disqualification.

Vinesh is a three-time Olympian and has won gold medals in both the Asian and Commonwealth Games. For the past one year, she had also been the face of fierce protests against former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by women grapplers.

Vinesh, who has always competed in the 53kg category, was forced to come down to 50kg just months before the Games after the Paris quota place in that division was locked by Antim Panghal. Panghal lost in the opening round itself and is facing deportation after trying to facilitate her sister Nisha’s access to the Games Village on her accreditation card.