New Delhi: India’s ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who recently participated in the Paris Olympics 2024, was honoured with a gold medal by the Sarvkhap Panchayat in Rohtak on Sunday. Ever since her return from the French capital, she has been receiving warm praises and huge respect for her gritty and rampant outing. The nation came together in support of Vinesh when she was disqualified from the women’s 50kg freestyle final bout.
Rarely would have anyone seen the whole country united for a sportsperson who was denied a guaranteed medal after being deemed 100 grams overweight on the morning of the match. It was understood that Vinesh’s arrival would be a grand affair and it sure was as she arrived to a rousing reception and has still been receiving accolades from her people.
She celebrated her 30th birthday on Sunday and an event was organised by the Sarvkhap of Haryana in her honour. The elders of the khap honored her with a gold medal with many reports claiming that it is made entirely of pure gold. “My fight has not ended, it has rather just begun. The fight for our daughters’ honour has just started. We said the same thing during our sit-in,” Vinesh addressed the event.
Vinesh Phogat has been given a gold medal by the Khap Panchayat. This gold medal is better than the Olympic gold medal because
that gold medal contains only a small amount of gold while this one is made entirely of pure gold.
Vinesh Phogat deserves this honor because if Vinesh… pic.twitter.com/Em1h4uejCz
— Shyam Awadh Yadav parody© (@shyamawadhyada2) August 26, 2024
Vinesh was spearheading a wrestlers’ protest last year with several other wrestlers from Haryana calling out the then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brijbhushan Sharan Singh over allegations of sexual harassment last year.
“When I could not play in Paris, I thought I was very unfortunate but after returning to India and experiencing all the love and support here, I feel that I am very fortunate,” she added.
Vinesh said that the warm gesture will also encourage other female athletes that they are being backed by their communities even in their lean phase. “I will forever be indebted for this honour which is above any medal,” she added.
Vinesh’s campaign at Olympics 2024
Phogat, who hails from Haryana’s Balali, faced a heartbreaking exit from the Paris Olympics 2024, which was indeed a grave wound to her to crores of people back home who were expecting a maiden wrestling gold. She had become the first woman wrestler to make it to an Olympic final and was the favorite to win the gold medal, notably after being on a rampant run in her opening day. She won three consecutive bouts – the pre-quarterfinal, the quarterfinal, and the semifinal, removing every hurdle coming her way but lost the medal to 100 grams.
She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) for a joint silver medal but to no avail. The ad hoc division of the court did not agree to the arguments put forth by Vinesh’s lawyers during the hearing and announced the verdict against her.
Ever since returning from Paris Olympics 2024, Vinesh Phogat has been receiving tremendous respect and felicitation for her rampant outing in the French capital. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
