New Delhi: Star Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was temporarily suspended by the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for alleged misconduct at the Tokyo Olympics, was given a reprimand and will be eligible for this year’s World Championship to be held in October in Oslo.
Sonam Malik and Divya Kakran, have also been warned and like Phogat, will also be eligible for the World Championships selection. “We will be conducting selection trials on August 31 in New Delhi. They will be allowed to take part in it,” WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar said.
In the meantime, WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh sent a letter to the three wrestlers, stating that they will be ‘compelled’ to impose lifetime bans on the trio for any further acts of indiscipline.
“Even though your written reply to the show-cause notice, which you had sent to the Wrestling Federation of India office, was not satisfactory, the Wrestling Federation of India wants to give you one more chance so that you can rectify your mistakes,” Brij Sharan wrote in the letter, dated August 24, 2021.
“Therefore, the Wrestling Federation of India’s disciplinary committee forgives you with a warning that if you repeat your mistakes, then the Wrestling Federation of India will be compelled to impose a lifetime ban on you.”
Previously, the WFI was considering barring the trio from competing in at least two international competitions. The 27-year-old Phogat, who was one of India’s medal hopes at the Tokyo Olympics, was defeated by Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in the qualifying rounds.
After her setback, the WFI issued a show-cause notice for three alleged acts of indiscipline, refusing to stay with the Indian athletes, not training with them, and not wearing the proper team uniform for her bouts. Phogat had rejected the first two charges in her response, through lawyer Vidushpat Singhania, and confessed that wearing the wrong singlet was an ‘unintended’ blunder.
Phogat also stated in a column for The Indian Express, that after she was provisionally suspended by the WFI, she was ‘broken’ after losing in the quarterfinals of the 53kg weight class in the Tokyo Olympics.
“I slept once since I reached home. I slept for two hours on the flight and sometimes in the Village. There, I would walk alone and drink coffee. I was alone. When the sun would rise, I felt sleepy,” she wrote.
“I don’t know when I will return (to the mat). Maybe I won’t. I feel I was better off with that broken leg (suffered at the 2016 Rio Olympics). I had something to correct. Now my body is not broken, but I’m truly broken.”
