Vinesh Phogat: India wrestler retires after Olympics disqualification

A three-time Olympian, Phogat has won three Commonwealth Games golds, two World Championships bronze medals and one Asian Games gold medal.

In 2021, she was also crowned the Asian Champion.

Earlier this week, she became the first female Indian wrestler to reach an Olympic final – a feat which would have guaranteed her at least a silver medal if it wasn’t for her disqualification. Sakshi Malik, the only other female wrestler to win an Olympic medal for India, had clinched a bronze at Rio 2016.

Phogat’s performance also included one of the biggest upsets at the Games so far, after she beat reigning world champion Yui Susaki from Japan to progress to the quarter-finals.

“Vinesh Phogat is India’s biggest, bravest, boldest Olympian, external. We are lucky to have her,” wrote sports writer Sharda Ugra in ESPN after she defeated Susaki.

Phogat had reportedly starved herself for a week and spent hours in the sauna to cut weight for the contest. In the previous two Olympics, she had competed in the 53kg category. This was her first outing in the 50kg category – and the wrestler reportedly struggled to meet the weight requirement during her Olympic qualifiers as well.

Phogat has appealed against her disqualification from the Olympic finals to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), seeking to be awarded a joint silver medal.

This is not the first time Phogat has suffered a setback at the Olympic Games.

At Rio 2016, she had been a favourite for the medal until she dislocated her right knee midway through the quarter-final bout. Pictures of her stretched on the mat and writhing in pain had broken hearts in India.