New Delhi: Vinesh Phogat has hinted at returning to wrestling through a post on social media, a month after becoming an MLA in the Haryana assembly.
She quit wrestling after being found overweight by 100 grams and was subsequently disqualified from appearing in the Paris Olympics 50kg category final, becoming the first female grappler from the country to reach the title round.
Her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for a silver medal was also dismissed. Upon return to India, she ventured into politics and became an MLA from the Julana assembly constituency, winning by 5,761 votes after contesting on Congress ticket.
However on Monday, the wrestler-turned-politician wrote a four line poem in Hindi on Instagram that led to speculation over a return to the mat.
“Granted, you’re tired today. Granted, today you’re a wounded bird. But you still have courage within you. You’re still alive for the sake of your goal,” Vinesh wrote.
View this post on Instagram
The Asian Games gold medal winner was one of the top wrestlers who lead a prolonged sit-in protest against former Wresting Federation of India Brij Bhushn Sharan Singh, who is under trial for alleged sexual exploitation of female grapplers.
Brij Bhushan has always maintained his innocence though Phogat, along with Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik have blamed him for gross misconduct and autocracy in running the WFI.
The 29-year-old wrestler had punched above weight on her way to the 50kg final at Paris Olympics only for her dreams of an unprecedented gold getting shattered at the mandatory weigh-in before the final.
Phogat’s weight increased by 2.7kgs after her win in the semi-final and despite the best efforts of her support staff it couldn’t be brought down to the permissible limit of 50kg, leading to her disqualification.
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