There is no one like Vinesh Phogat

Vinesh Phogat is going to the Paris Olympics.

Whether she will be third time lucky after Rio and Tokyo disappointments is anybody’s guess, but the gruelling and punishing journey to earn the quota for her third Summer Games is a testament to the fact that there has rarely been an athlete like Vinesh Phogat in India’s sporting history.

Forget the records that the Balali-born wrestler made by winning the 50kg freestyle quota at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) on Saturday. Forget that Vinesh is the only Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the Olympics three times. The fact that she was the first female wrestler from India to win an Asian Games gold, in 2018. Or that she is the only Indian woman to win two World Wrestling Championship medals.

The sheer struggle to win quota amid her ongoing fight for justice against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and BJP strongman Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple female wrestlers, the number of days that she spent on the footpath while leading the protests, the mental agony she faced, the trolling she endured by Kaiserganj MP’s supporters, the character assassination on social media and dropping down to 50kg category from her pet division of 53kg, despite the risk of injury, places the value of the quota win at a much higher level than just being an entry ticket to Paris 2024.

The Asian Olympic qualifiers was Vinesh’s first international competition since the 2022 World Championships. The gap of 17 months or so between her international appearance has seen the 29-year-old’s life change upside down.

That her life was going to change forever was evident when India’s prominent wrestlers took to Jantar Mantar in the heart of the national capital, Delhi, to protest against Brij Bhushan . But only a few would have imagined that the battle for justice would be this painful, testing and perennial.

After days of sit-in protests, demonstration marches, media interviews and even the threat of immersing their Olympic medals in River Ganga, the agitation ended with the wrestlers getting into an ugly scuffle with Delhi police personnel just as India, ironically, inaugurated its new Parliament building.

One cannot easily forget the haunting picture of Vinesh trying to protect her cousin sister Sangeeta Phogat from the police.

You can imagine the strength of Brij Bhushan by the fact that the initial protest, which was called off in January, was resumed in April just to get an FIR lodged against the politician and that, too, only happened after the Supreme Court’s intervention .

The FIR may have been lodged, but the case is still pending in the court while Brij Bhushan prepares for the 2024 general elections. It’s almost impossible to imagine the trauma Vinesh or Sakshi Malik, another face of the wrestlers’ protest, would be going through seeing Brij Bhushan roam freely so easily, but Phogat valiantly managed to leave all that behind to book a spot at the Olympics.

How difficult the fight must have been can be gauged from the fact that Malik retired from wrestling after Brij Bhushan’s close aide Sanjay Singh was elected as the new WFI president in December 2023 despite the Sports Ministry assuring that they would bring an end to the UP leader’s control over the federation while Bajrang Punia, the third biggest name from the protests, has been nothing more than a pale shadow of his former self in latest bouts.

The Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist suffered a humiliating loss  in the selection trial in March this year to get eliminated from the race to Paris.

Then there are the personal struggles.

In August 2023, Phogat underwent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery on her right knee. In 2016, an ACL injury on her left knee abruptly ended her Rio Olympics campaign.

Amid all this, the two-time junior world champion, Antim Panghal, won the 53kg quota — Vinesh’s pet division — by winning bronze at the 2023 Worlds. It meant the senior wrestler had to take the biggest risk of her life. At the age of close to 30, Vinesh had to lose weight which can cause a lack of strength, stamina and muscular endurance and adapt to a completely different line of competitors. But it was a decision she took in the blink of an eye.

“It’s taken so much hard work and struggle. I have been away from the mat for 1-1/2 years. I have come back after an operation. Many people have suggested that I should not go in the 50kg category because I could get injured again. But I did not have any option. It was a do-or-die situation. I chose the die option,” Vinesh said on changing her weight division after securing the Paris Olympics quota.

Soon the Olympics will be here and if she fails to win a medal, her detractors, who are missing now, will be back, shouting at the top of their voices. But no matter how loud you shout, her legacy is etched in gold.