Vinesh Phogat says PT Usha photo at Paris Olympics was without permission

Vinesh Phogat has alleged that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief PT Usha meeting her at the Paris Olympics soon after the wrestler was disqualified was part of politics and the photo shared on social media was done without her permission.

Ahead of the gold medal bout at the Paris Olympics, Phogat was found to be 100 grammes overweight at the weigh-in and was subsequently disqualified.

At the time, Phogat, her coach, and support staff had made numerous efforts across the night to help her cut weight , including chopping the wrestler’s hair and trying to draw out blood, but nothing came to their rescue.

In the aftermath, Phogat was pictured with IOA president and former athlete PT Usha in what was the first photo of the wrestler from the French capital.

“I don’t know what support I got from there. There was politics happening there. That is why I was left heartbroken. People are telling me to reverse decision on retirement but who should I do it for? Everywhere there’s politics. You are on the bed where you don’t know what is going on, going through the worst phase of your life and then there is someone who is there to take photos without permission, to post on social media and say we’re together, that’s not united,” she said in an interview.

In another part of the interview, Phogat said IOA’s support in her appeal to overturn the disqualification came later and as a third party. Instead, she had to personally file an appeal for a silver medal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“Harish Salve Sir joined the case a day later. The case was filed by India or Vinesh? Vinesh. Obviously. The lawyers in Paris filed the case on my behalf. It wasn’t done by the Indian government, they were the third party. We represent our country and then the government oversees us. Why do associations and governments send athletes? So we can represent every resident at every tournament, at every location. They were looking to make media bytes,” stated the wrestler in the interview.

“You cannot expect positive results from Sanjay Singh ,” continued Phogat on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and their claims of being in talks with United World Wrestling (UWW). “There is no doubt (about his intentions). We cannot trust him. He is a dummy candidate of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh . WFI still runs at Brij Bhushan’s home. Anyone with the power can go check,” she added.

Vinesh’s appeal at the CAS for a joint-silver was dismissed . Since, she’s retired from wrestling and joined the Congress party ahead of the assembly election in her home state of Haryana.

The 30-year-old has been fielded from the Julana assembly segment for the upcoming polls.