Mahavir Phogat. Image Source: hindustantimes.com
Hours after wrestler Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement, her uncle Mahavir Phogat and his daughter Babita Phogat expressed their intention to persuade her to reconsider and prepare for the next Olympics. Vinesh’s retirement announcement came shortly after she was disqualified for being 100 grams overweight ahead of her gold medal bout in the 50-kg freestyle category.
On Thursday morning, Vinesh revealed her decision on X (formerly Twitter), citing the recent disqualification as a significant factor in her choice. Mahavir Phogat stated that he, along with Bajrang Punia and other family members, plans to convince Vinesh to reconsider. “Her decision was influenced by her mental state following the disqualification. She has competed in three Olympics, and we were hopeful for a gold this time. We will ask her to reconsider and start preparing for the 2028 Olympics,” he said.
Babita Phogat, meanwhile, expressed the family’s disappointment over the disqualification and hopes that the Court of Arbitration for Sport will resolve the issue by awarding Vinesh a joint silver medal. “There is still a lot of potential in Vinesh, and we will encourage her to continue wrestling. We will discuss this with her once she returns home,” she added.
Additionally, Mahavir and Babita, a BJP leader, criticized former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for his comments about Vinesh’s potential nomination to the Rajya Sabha. Mahavir questioned why Hooda did not support his daughter Geeta Phogat, a Commonwealth gold medalist, for such a position during his tenure. “Geeta was the first woman wrestler to win a Commonwealth gold and qualify for the Olympics. Under Hooda’s government, Geeta and Babita were to be promoted to DSPs but were only given inspector and sub-inspector positions. We had to approach the court to resolve this,” he said.
Babita accused Hooda and his son Deepender of politicizing the situation. “I urge Hooda and Deepender not to exploit this issue for political gain. Why was there discrimination against me and my sister Geeta during Hooda’s tenure?” she questioned.
