 "Vinesh Phogat's political journey off to a dream start after wrestling career ends with heartbreak")
Two months after suffering a heartbreak at the Paris Olympics and subsequently announcing her retirement from wrestling, Vinesh Phogat got her political career off to a dream start in the Haryana state assembly elections on Tuesday.
A month after joining the Indian National Congress, Vinesh defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Captain Yogesh Bairagi, a former Army officer, and ex-professional wrestler Kavita Devi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to win the Julana seat in the state assembly polls.
LIVE | Election Results 2024, Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir
Vinesh was declared a winner by the Election Commission of India even as votes were being counted, with the BJP currently leading by a fair distance and appearing set to form a government for a third consecutive term.
The two-time world championships bronze medallist had nearly made history in the Paris Games earlier this year, winning a hat-trick of bouts in the women’s 50kg category on 6 August to become the first Indian woman to qualify for an Olympic wrestling final .
The 30-year-old grappler, however, would be disqualified from the Olympics in a heartbreaking manner, failing her second weigh-in on the morning of the final by a mere 100 grams. This despite resorting to the most desperate of measures.
A crest-fallen Vinesh would then announce her retirement from the sport shortly after, and would later fail to overturn her disqualification result despite lodging an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
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More ShortsHaving missed out on a historic gold, or silver, medal in the Paris Olympics by the barest of margins, one wondered if she would end up suffering a similar fate in the world of politics after officially joining Congress on 6 September along with fellow wrestler Bajrang Punia.
Vinesh shuts her critics in style
Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and six-time BJP Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was among those who had played down her decision to enter the world of politics, going so far as to say that "any BJP candidate" could defeat her in the state polls.
Vinesh and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Bajrang, along with Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, were the faces of the wrestler’s protest against Brij Bhushan, who was accused of sexually harassing several female wrestlers, in the summer months of 2023.
Congratulations @Phogat_Vinesh on your spectacular victory fighting against all odds! pic.twitter.com/FqUagAHl3L
— Congress Kerala (@INCKerala) October 8, 2024
And following Vinesh and Bajrang’s decision to join politics, Brij Bhushan further claimed the protests were politicised and had Congress’s backing.
Vinesh, however, scored a takedown against her naysayers on the political mat on Tuesday, winning the Julana seat in Haryana’s Jind district by a margin of 6,000 votes.
She had missed out on a historic Olympic medal by the barest of margins, but when it came to her political debut, Vinesh kickstarted her career with a decisive victory.
“Many congratulations to the country’s daughter Vinesh Phogat for her victory. This fight was not just for one Julana seat, it was not just with 3-4 other candidates, it was not just a fight between parties. This fight was against the strongest oppressive forces in the country. And Vinesh emerged victorious,” Bajrang wrote in a post on X, formerly, Twitter, reacting to Vinesh’s victory.
देश की बेटी विनेश फोगाट को जीत की बहुत बहुत बधाई।
— Bajrang Punia 🇮🇳 (@BajrangPunia) October 8, 2024
यह लड़ाई सिर्फ़ एक जुलाना सीट की नहीं थी, सिर्फ़ 3-4 और प्रत्याशियों के साथ नहीं थी, सिर्फ़ पार्टियों की लड़ाई नहीं थी।
यह लड़ाई देश की सबसे मज़बूत दमनकारी शक्तियों के ख़िलाफ़ थी। और विनेश इसमें विजेता रही।#VineshPhogat… pic.twitter.com/dGR5m2K2ao
It’s been a year of Vinesh proving her critics wrong. She had been written off as a wrestler in the first half of 2024 after missing out on several events in 2023 due to the protests, only to nearly make history in the Olympics. Her credentials as a politician was also questioned over the last one month, and her victory on Tuesday only proved that she belonged to this arena as much as wrestling.
With a dream start in politics helping ease the heartache of Paris 2024, it remains to be seen how far Vinesh goes in the political arena, and whether she can in the national reckoning in the years to come.
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