Everyone Outside Is Treating Me Like I Am Dead Thing, Says Vinesh Phogat

New Delhi: The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had suspended top wrestler Vinesh Phogat for misconduct at the Tokyo Olympics. The medal contender crashed out of the Olympics in the quarterfinals in the 53kg category.

While answering the critics, the 26-year-old broke her silence and said she now contemplates quitting wrestling. “I feel like I am sleeping in a dream and nothing has even begun. I am blank. I don’t know what is happening in life. For the last one week, so much has been going on inside me. It’s a story of two hearts, two minds. I have given everything to wrestling and now is the right time to leave. But on the other hand, by chance I leave and don’t fight, it’ll be a bigger loss for me,” Vinesh was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

“Right now, I really want to focus on my family. But everyone outside is treating me like I am a dead thing. They write anything, they do…. I knew that in India, you fall as fast as you rise. One medal (lost) and everything is finished,” she said.

According to the wrestler, she was prepared for the Tokyo Olympics, but still it wasn’t enough for a medal.

“I was okay in Tokyo. I prepared for the humidity, I had salt capsules, I drank electrolytes. I just wished this problem would not arise. But when it rains, it pours.

“I had a concussion in 2017, since then I have suffered from it. Things become blurry. It has gone down a lot but when my head strikes on anything, it comes back.

Maybe it was that. Maybe it was the blood pressure. Maybe the weight cut. I’m used to salt capsules. They helped a lot. But they did not work in Tokyo where I was alone,” she said.

Vinesh explained why she didn’t stay in the village as accused by the wrestling parent body in the country.

“Since I got COVID first time (August 2020), I can’t digest protein. One year and I have had no protein in my body. It doesn’t stay inside. When I came back from Kazakhstan after Asian Championships, I fell ill again. I was tested positive COVID for the second time which I contacted in Almaty. I recovered and flew to Bulgaria. A few days later, my family back home tested positive.

“Imagine how I have gotten back to this stage of the Olympics. Five years.

“When these things have happened, why will I stay with the Indian team? They were tested everyday for seven days. I wasn’t. What if I got it on the flight and infected them? I was, in fact, thinking about them and wanted to stay away for 2-3 days to be sure that they were not at risk. What’s the big deal? After 2-3 days I was going to join them and even began training with Seema. So there’s no question of me not being a team-player,” she added.

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