In Vinesh Phogat’s constant battle with destiny, a comeback is guaranteed

Just when it seemed Vinesh Phogat’s name would be immortalised, fate pulled another cruel trick. Forced to drop from 53kg to 50kg due to Antim Panghal’s rise in the former weight class, Phogat dominated the field with relentless determination, defeating reigning Olympic champion Yui Susaki and delivering a tactical masterclass against Oksana Livach and Yusneylys Guzman Lopez.

Just as it seemed the powers that be had surrendered and Phogat would enter the promised land, destiny had one more trick up its sleeve. On the morning of the first gold medal match for a female Indian wrestler, Phogat failed the weigh-in by 100 grams. The same weigh-in she had cleared just a day earlier before the three gruelling bouts. Despite desperate measures including jogging, skipping, sauna baths, cutting off her hair, and reportedly drawing out blood, she could not make weight.

It was always going to be difficult for Vinesh, whose natural body weight is around 56-57kg, to maintain the 50kg limit. Was it a matter of pure bad luck or an oversight — something that will only become clear with time — that she failed the weigh-in just before her Olympic gold medal match.

This puts into perspective Phogat’s desperation to represent India in the 53kg at the Paris Olympics.

In March this year during the national trials, despite winning the 50kg bout, she demanded a written confirmation for a trial in the 53kg weight class category.

She eventually won the Paris 2024 quota in the 50kg category and the trial wasn’t needed, but Phogat knew 53kg was her best bet.

This, however, didn’t stop her from scripting history, just like how nothing ever has.

Frankly speaking, when Phogat spent countless days on the streets of the national capital, leading the protest against the head of India’s wrestling governing body and a prominent political figure from the ruling party BJP, nobody would have imagined that she would blaze through a field that included the four-time world champion and unbeaten Susaki.

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After she and other wrestlers were subdued by Delhi Police during a violent scuffle at the new Parliament building, it seemed unlikely she could achieve this.

But she did, as she always has.

The wrestlers’ protest was so damaging that Bajrang Punia, who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, is half the wrestler that he was and Sakshi Malik retired, unable to handle the mental toll.

Despite this, Vinesh went on to win an Olympic quota, becoming the first female wrestler from India to qualify for three Summer Games, less than a year after undergoing anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery, which in many cases can be career-ending.

ACL, however, wasn’t new to Phogat.

At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, an ACL injury on her left knee cut short her campaign in which she was seen as a medal favourite. Her departing scenes of being stretchered off still haunt those who had hoped.

At Tokyo 2021, she was the top seed but lost in the quarter-finals leading to an unprecedented social media rebuke where labels like ‘choker’ and ‘waste of money’ were thrown left right, and centre.

In a column for the Indian Express after the Tokyo Games, Vinesh revealed she had been depressed since 2019.

“As an athlete, the mental pressure is so much that we are always on that thin line. When it crosses, we are done…

“I told my psychologist that I am very emotional and can cross that thin line.

“Do you think doing meditation and talking to a psychologist is enough? Nothing is enough. Only we know.”

From there, she was back on top in Paris before cruel destiny double-crossed her once again. But Vinesh has shown time and again that she will not give up. She wouldn’t wrestle on the mat after retiring, however, but be rest assured, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Vinesh.

Because that’s not who she is.