Just hours after Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling, her uncle Mahavir Phogat and his daughter Babita Phogat expressed their intention to persuade her to reconsider. They plan to encourage Vinesh to resume training for the next Olympics once she returns.
On Thursday morning, Vinesh shared her decision to quit on X (formerly Twitter) following her disqualification for being 100 grams overweight just before her gold medal match in the 50-kg freestyle category.
Mahavir Phogat mentioned that he, along with Bajrang Punia and other family members, would try to convince Vinesh to rethink her decision. He believes her announcement was a reaction to the recent events that caused her significant distress. “She took the decision because of her mental state after being disqualified. She played in three Olympics and we were expecting a gold medal this time. Our family members will request her to change her decision and start preparing for the 2028 Olympics,” he added.
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Babita Phogat expressed the family’s deep sadness over Vinesh’s disqualification. She hopes that the Court of Arbitration for Sport will address the issue and award Vinesh a joint silver medal. “There is a lot of game left in Vinesh and we will ask her to continue wrestling. Our family will hold talks with her once she returns home,” she added.
Mahavir and Babita, who is also a BJP leader, criticized former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for his recent remarks. Hooda had suggested that if Congress had the majority in the Haryana assembly, he would have appointed Vinesh Phogat to the Rajya Sabha. Mahavir dismissed this as a political stunt, questioning why his own daughter, Geeta Phogat, a Commonwealth gold medalist, was not given a similar opportunity during Hooda’s tenure. “Geeta was the first woman wrestler to win a Commonwealth gold medal and qualify for the Olympics. During Hooda’s government, Geeta and Babita were to be made DSPs but he discriminated against them and made Geeta inspector and Babita sub-inspector. We approached the court where the matter was resolved,” he added.
BJP leader and former wrestler Babita Phogat accused Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Deepender of exploiting the situation for political gain.
“I will urge Hooda and Deepeder not to break our family by politicising the issue. Why Hooda discriminated against me and my sister Geeta during his government and not made us DSPs?” she questioned.
