It’s takedown from Vinesh Phogat. All those who ridiculed her and vilified her, all those who plotted and planned to drag her on the streets of New Delhi on that hot Sunday afternoon in May last year — Vinesh has pinned all those people on the mat. She has given them the dhobi pachhad.
At the spacious Champ-de-Mars Arena, the Eiffel Tower looming at the back, Vinesh did what seemed unthinkable when the dawn broke at the French capital. The 29-year-old has made it to the final of the 50kg wrestling competition, ensuring India of a medal — gold or silver.
She blanked Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 in the last-four stage bout. Arms raised, she thanked God. The arena rose to give her a standing ovation. Vinesh has scripted the story of the Olympic Games. On Wednesday evening, Sarah Hildebrandt of the US waits for her.
The morning showed what this wrestler from Haryana had in her mind. Japanese Yui Susaki, who won the Tokyo Olympics gold without losing a point and was considered an invincible wrestler for her 82-0 record, did not know what hit her at the death. Trailing 2-0, Vinesh showed that experience counts. She found a chink in the Susaki armoury and advanced to the quarters with a 3-2 win.
It was like a slap to all those who did not give her a chance against Susaki. At best, she would go through the repechage for a bronze was the refrain.
In the quarters it was Ukraine’s Oksana Livach’s turn — 7-5 in Vinesh’s favour.
Before the semis clash, a message came detailing the government’s expense on her in this Olympic cycle.
It did not mention how the same government treated Vinesh and her friends Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik when they levelled sexual harassment charges against the now-removed Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP strongman from Uttar Pradesh Brijbhushan Sharan Singh.
Every move by her to make a comeback was scuttled. One of the top wrestlers at 53kg, she had put principles ahead of personal gain by skipping trials for last year’s World Championships to become one of the faces of the protests against the federation. Antim Panghal took her place in the 53kg category and earned one of the five Paris quotas in the weight class.
Vinesh was caught in the crossroads. Either drop to 50kg or move up to 57kg. She chose the former, a category in which she had won gold in the 2018 Asian Games. She earned the Paris quota during the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek in April. She came to Paris almost without any hype whatsoever. And here she is fighting for the gold.
She did not speak to the mediapersons at the mixed zone after the semi-final. “Will speak tomorrow (Wednesday) sir. Please do not mind,” she said trying to catch her breath.
Rio had ended in tears after a knee injury. Tokyo was forgettable. Paris? V for victory,
V for Vinesh.
