Wrestler Vinesh Phogat.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Paris: The spotlight will be firmly transfixed on veteran Vinesh Phogat but it’s the young duo of Antim Panghal and Aman Sehrawat who are tipped to lift the doom and gloom that has descended upon Indian wrestling when competition kicks off at the Champ-de-Mars Arena here on Monday.
One of the most decorated wrestlers in the country with multiple medals in almost every major competition, things have not been great for Vinesh ever since she launched a protest against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in early 2023, accusing the former president of the Wrestling Federation of India of sexual misconduct.
What started off as a peaceful protest in demand for justice kept taking a turn for the worse with the whole fight of Vinesh and Co becoming a national soap opera. Eventually, Vinesh ended up facing flak from some fellow wrestlers for being too unyielding in the battle against Brij Bhushan. Ultimately, the once tight-knit wrestling community got divided with training partners tuning against each other and leaving Vinesh and her friends Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik — the faces of the protest — to fend for themselves.
A fighter all her life, Vinesh has somehow managed to keep herself fit amidst all those battles as she hunts that elusive Olympic medal. A three-time Commonwealth Games champion, 2018 Asian Games winner, two-time World Championships bronze medallist and eight-time medal winner at Asian Championships, Vinesh suffered a broken leg at the Rio Olympics in 2016 and five years later in Tokyo she lost in the quarterfinal that left her in a wreck — mentally and physically.
The 29-year-old has often stated that winning an Olympic medal has been her life-long ambition and she even dropped her weight category to 50kg just to keep that dream alive. She’ll be hoping Paris, known as the City of Love, gives her the joy that’s been missing in her life over the last couple of years.
Things though will be very difficult for Vinesh considering she’s unseeded. She could be fighting four-time world champion Yui Susaki, two-time World medallist Dolgorjavyn Otgonjargal, four-time Olympic medallist Maria Stadnik or Tokyo Games' bronze winner Sarah Hildebrandt in the early rounds which means she really has to be at her very best to reach the medal stages.
While the odds are stacked against Vinesh, the stage has been set for the 19-year-old Antim to thrust herself into the spotlight and become the new face of women’s wrestling in the country. Antim, a bronze medallist at Asian Games and World Championships last year, has been seeded third in the 53kg category and placed in the first half of the draw which means she’ll avoid big names such as two-time world champion Akari Fujinami, two-time European champion Emma Malmgren and Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Qianyu Pang early on.
Sehrawat, who qualified for Paris ahead of his friend cum confidante Ravi Kumar Dahiya in the same 57kg category, is seeded sixth and his first major fight could come against Armenia's Arsen Harutyunyan in the quarterfinals. If he wins it, then there’s a potential clash against Japan's Rei Higuchi. If Sehrawat, orphaned at 11 years of age and who has made the famous Chhatrasal academy his home since, wins a medal it could be one of the stories of this Olympics for India.
A dark horse is Anshu Malik in the 57kg category but the wrestler has been battling neck spasm over the last few weeks and it remains to be seen if she’s fully fit.
Squad: Men: Aman Sehrawat (57kg).
Women: Vinesh Phogat (50kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Anshu Malik (57kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg), Reetika Hooda (76kg).