The Conspiracy Against Vinesh Phogat | Why She Lost? | Dhruv Rathee

Disqualification Announcement

And then the news broke of her disqualification.

Struggles of Proud Wrestlers

These wrestlers who make our country proud were dragged on the streets by the police.

WFI’s Deception

But cheating was involved. WFI was the one to cheat.

Vinesh’s Family Bond

“And Vinesh, we’re family.”

Grieving with Daggers

She said that she couldn’t grieve her loss properly, because people were already after her with their daggers.

Dehumanization Experience

“Treating me like a non-living thing.”

Introduction to the Story

Hello, friends! There is a line in Dangal’s title song, “From the womb to the grave, your story is an inspiration, Dangal Dangal.” This line fits our great Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat perfectly.

Vinesh’s Life of Struggle

From childhood till now, her life has been a struggle. What were the things she had to fight to reach here? What happened to her in the Paris Olympics? Let’s find out the entire story in this video.

Exposing Injustice

The people who are against her will be exposed, and they will be held accountable for Vinesh’s tears.

Paris Olympics Journey

In this Olympics, Vinesh’s first match was against Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Yui Susaki. In Yui’s entire career, she lost only 3 bouts. Before this match, her record stood at 82-0. Many people believed that it was almost impossible to defeat her.

The Unexpected Victory

The total match lasts 6 minutes with 2 rounds of 3 minutes each. For a long time in this match, Vinesh kept defending herself, but in the last 15 seconds, she surprised Yui Susaki and the match was turned around. The news of this historic victory went viral on social media.

Rising as a Favorite

After defeating the world champion, suddenly, Vinesh became the favorite to win the gold medal. In the next quarter-final stage, she defeated the European champion, Oksana Livash, by 7-5. Then in the semi-final, she faced Pan-American Games Champion Yusnevlis Guzman, a Cuban wrestler. With 5-0, Vinesh won this match and became the first Indian woman wrestler to go to the Olympic final.

The Final Match

Her final match was against American wrestler Sarah Hildebrandt, the bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics. In 2019, they faced off in two bouts in the 53 kgs category. Vinesh had won both bouts. Considering this and looking at her momentum, her chance of winning a gold medal was almost sure.

Disqualification Shock

But then the next day, there was news of her disqualification. “Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from the Paris Olympics.” “Disqualified on account of being overweight.”

The Weight Issue

She was overweight just by 100 grams, and so she was disqualified. On the first day, she weighed 49.9 kg. After weighing in, they are allowed a recovery meal to gain some strength and then they drink some water. This rehydration causes some normal weight gain. They had planned that Vinesh’s weight would increase by 1.5 kg, which can be cut down overnight. And when the second weigh-in happens before the final match, then the weight would be back under 50 kgs. But there were some problems in the calculation.

The Desperate Attempt

After the semifinal match, Vinesh’s weight was 52.7 kgs. The next morning, she was to be weighed at 7.15 am. She had 12 hours to lose 2.7 kgs of weight. Because of this, she couldn’t sleep at all that night. She didn’t drink even a drop of water, nor did she eat anything. She spent the night running, skipping, cycling, went to the sauna, cut her hair, and had blood drawn. After all this, she had lost 2.6 kg. But by the time it was 7.15 am, 100 g extra weight remained. If she had a little more time, she would have reduced this weight too. But the weigh-in time was 7.15 am to 7.30 am. Unfortunately, this could not be possible.

Breaking News

“The breaking news right now, Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from Paris Olympics.”

Global Support and Struggles

The 2012 Olympic gold medalist and 6-time world champion American athlete Jordan Burroughs appealed on Twitter to change the rules and award the silver medal to Vinesh. This process of reducing weight was so difficult for Vinesh because her natural weight is around 55-56 kg. So it is difficult to bring it down to 50 kgs.

Previous Achievements

Although it is not impossible, neither was it the first time that Vinesh was competing in this category. In July, she won the gold medal in the Spanish Grand Prix. That was in the 50 kg category. In this category, she won the Olympic quota too. And why did she compete in this category and not in the category of 53 kgs? The simple reason behind this is the quota for the 53 kg category went to Antim Panghal. We will talk about this in detail later in the video, about the controversy involving Antim.

Vinesh’s Retirement

But after this incident, Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement on Twitter. “Mother, wrestling won over me, I lost. Forgive me, your dream, my courage, everything lies shattered. I don’t have any more strength. Goodbye, wrestling, 2001 – 2024.”

Financial Accountability

After this incident, our Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to the Parliament to give an account of ₹7 million was spent on Vinesh. “For the Paris Olympics, she was given ₹7,045,775 in total.”

Government Spending Critique

Mr. Mansukh Mandaviya, should we talk about your spending? There’s a new report about the BJP government’s spendings in Goa. A Goan MLA revealed in his state assembly speech that BJP has spent ₹17 million just on catering services. And ₹13.3 million was spent on five-star hotel stays, ₹43.2 million for transporting VIPs, and ₹4 million on just sweets. You politicians buy goggles worth hundreds of thousands of rupees.

Cars worth millions of rupees. All with public money. And what do we, the people, get? Broken roads, falling bridges, rail accidents? And you are talking about the money spent on those players who have dedicated their bodies, minds, and their entire life to wrestling and made our country proud repeatedly.

Insensitive Remarks

BJP MP Hema Malini also made a casual, insensitive remark. “It feels so strange that because of 100 grams, she was disqualified. I wish she loses that 100g quickly. But the medal is gone.”

Social Media Reactions

On the other hand, on social media, many people started making fun of Vinesh, blaming her for her defeat. I would like to tell these people to show some empathy. Once you hear Vinesh Phogat’s whole story, you may start tearing up. How many ups and downs and struggles can anyone bear in their career?

Potential for a Dangal Sequel

You will be surprised to see that her story can be the premise of Dangal part 2.

Vinesh’s Early Life

This story begins 30 years ago. Vinesh was born in Balali, Haryana. She was only 9 years old when her father passed away. Her mother, Prem Lata, raised her. She fought cancer as well. And Vinesh repeatedly says that she got courage from her mother.

Family Support and Training

Vinesh was trained by her uncle Mahavir Phogat, with her sister Priyanka, and her cousins Geeta, Babita, Ritu, and Sangeeta. This was happening in a village where it is still common for women to live behind a veil. People used to taunt that Mahavir has lost his mind. That he was ruining the village’s environment. That he had no shame. That he was making a spectacle of his daughters. Vinesh’s aunt Daya was told that her daughters will become manly. They will look ugly. And no one will marry them.

Facing Social Criticism

“My mother would often tell me that people from the village would comment about the way I dressed. That angered me. I’d tell her to bring those people to me.”

The Story of Geeta Phogat

The film Dangal mostly focused on the eldest sister, Geeta’s story. She won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. She became the first Indian woman wrestler to achieve this. After this, when she qualified for the 2012 Olympics, she became the first Indian female wrestler to do so. When you see someone around you being successful, it’s quite natural to be inspired by them. And so, Vinesh began her winning streak.

Vinesh’s Early Achievements

At the international level, she started by winning the silver medal in the 2013 World Youth Championship, then a bronze in the 51kg category of the 2013 Asian Wrestling Championship, and silver in the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.

Breakthrough at Commonwealth Games

But the biggest breakthrough for Vinesh came in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, which took place in Glasgow, Scotland. In the finals of the 48 kg category, she defeated a British wrestler with 11-8 and won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games at the age of 20.

Coaching, Counseling, and Treatment

Coaching, counseling, treatment, nutritionists, physiotherapists—whatever athletes need should be readily available. But here, the matter was something different. “When we told them that we wanted to go to a competition, or said that the sporting staff we had weren’t good so we wanted someone else. Or whatever else. Brij Bhusan wouldn’t have time for it. He got irritated by us. And then he would torture the athlete.”

Lack of Physiotherapy Support

We saw an example of this during the Tokyo Olympics too. Despite repeatedly requesting, Vinesh wasn’t given a dedicated physiotherapist. For a wrestler, weight cutting before a match, regaining strength after a bout, and then weight cutting once more are technical aspects that require a dedicated physiotherapist.

But Vinesh had to rely on the same physiotherapist who was accompanying the shooting team to the Tokyo Olympics. Unfortunately, she could not help her like a regular physiotherapist would. Vinesh said that on the last day, when she was cutting her weight, was she supposed to explain what happens in wrestling, or should she have focused on herself? As a result, she had to be her own physiotherapist.

Health Struggles During Competitions

On the day of her wrestling bout, when she woke up in the morning, she felt pain in her body. She started vomiting. While going to the stadium, she asked her physiotherapist, Purnima, about what she should do. Vinesh’s first match was against Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sofia Mattson. Vinesh won the match 7-1, but her health was deteriorating. She felt like vomiting, so she could not eat anything.

She took two capsules of salt, but it was of no use. She did some breathing exercises, but it was of no use. She was not feeling in control and eventually started shivering. In the next bout, she realized that she was losing. Her opponent could score points from positions that Vinesh could have normally blocked. Her mind was so blocked that she wasn’t able to complete even one takedown. Her mind was blanked out.

Consequences and Accusations

This loss broke Vinesh from within, but Brij Bhushan wasn’t done yet. The WFI accused Vinesh of indiscipline and suspended her temporarily. A show-cause notice was issued to her on three charges, accusing her of neither staying nor training with her teammates. The reason behind this was that she did not wear her kit sponsor, Shiv Naresh’s jersey, during the match. Vinesh, through senior lawyer Vidushpat Singhania, formally replied to the WFI notice. She said that she was following the quarantine rules and regulations of the IOC and the Japanese government.

Before going to Tokyo, she was training in Hungary with her coach Woller Akos. The Indian contingent was in quarantine for three days. But when she reached there, since she flew there after staying in Hungary, she did not need to go into quarantine. Going there meant increasing the risk of getting COVID. That’s why she stayed with the Indian 4×400 women athletes. So, she hadn’t broken any rules. She mentioned that in every training session, Vinesh wore the official kit of the Indian team’s sponsor.

She wore it regularly but could not get it washed. Before the competition started, she was sick and had vomited, and in the midst of all this, she was unable to ensure whether her official jersey was with her or not. She acknowledged this mistake, but it was due to unintentional and incorrect planning. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh issued a letter in response to her formal response, stating that the response was not satisfactory, but she was forgiven nonetheless. However, any more mistakes, and the Wrestling Federation will impose a lifetime ban on her.