Vinesh Phogat reverses wrestling retirement, targets 2028 Olympics: 'Stepping back with a heart that's unafraid'

Vinesh Phogat on Friday (12 December) announced a return to wrestling, reversing her retirement decision, which was taken after the Paris Olympics 2024 heartbreak. The two-time World Championship medallist, Vinesh Phogat, said that she will be targeting the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Phogat, who became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympic final, was disqualified from the 50kg event at Paris after being overweight by 100 grams during the weigh-in before the gold medal match. After the shocking heartbreak, the Haryana wrestler had announced on social media that she would be stepping away from the sport.

“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),” Vinesh wrote on X on 8 August 2024.

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Vinesh Phogat reverses wrestling retirement

On 12 December 2025, Vinesh announced that she would be making a return to wrestling, with the next Olympics in her mind.

“People kept asking if Paris was the end. For a long time, I didn’t have the answer. I needed to step away from the mat, from the pressure, from the expectations, even from my own ambitions. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to breathe,” Vinesh Phogat, the only Indian woman wrestler to win gold at both Asian and Commonwealth Games, wrote on X.

pic.twitter.com/2sQRvFju8m

— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) December 12, 2025

“I took time to understand the weight of my journey the highs, the heartbreaks, the sacrifices, the versions of me the world never saw. And somewhere in that reflection, I found the truth, I still love this sport. I still want to compete.

The Congress politician, who currently serves as the MLA of Julana constituency in Haryana, added that her son, who was born in July 2025, will serve as a motivating factor for her in the second innings.

“In that silence, I found something I’d forgotten ’the fire never left’. It was only buried under exhaustion and noise. The discipline, the routine, the fight… it’s in my system. No matter how far I walked away, a part of me stayed on the mat.

“So here I am, stepping back toward LA28 with a heart that’s unafraid and a spirit that refuses to bow.”

“And this time, I’m not walking alone. My son is joining my team, my biggest motivation, my little cheerleader on this road to the LA Olympics.”

After her massive announcement, the fans would want to know when she will be back on the mat. But it will not be easy for the 31-year-old wrestler. Though her proud record shows she has always defied the odds.