Vinesh shows up in Gonda, refuses to bow down to WFI

Bengaluru: Decorated wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Monday sprung a surprise by showing up in Gonda, UP — the venue for the National Open Ranking tournament — two days after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) served her a show-cause notice while putting her return from retirement on hold.

The episode adds to the prolonged battle between Vinesh and WFI as the defiant wrestler met the officials at the venue and argued for her inclusion in the 57kg women’s freestyle event ahead of the weigh-in for the event on Monday afternoon.

Sanjay Singh-led WFI, however, turned down the 31-year-old wrestler’s request, stating that she will only be granted permission to compete after she submits documents verifying her arguments on allegations levelled at her. The allegations included violations of the United World Wrestling and World Anti-Doping Agency’s rules on return from retirement, disqualification at Paris Olympics and prior ‘unsportman-like conduct’ at the Olympic trials.

Right after she met with WFI, Vinesh rejected all the claims, calling it a “pre-planned conspiracy” to stop her from competing.

“What do you expect me to do? Shall i take sanyaas and stay away? Accept defeat? So that their conspiracy against me succeeds?” Vinesh said.

“They are not allowing me. They want to see me tried and retired. All I am asking is a fair chance to compete but they are insisting that first I reply to their notice. This is all conspiracy.”

Earlier, WFI cited in its notice that it has reason to believe that Vinesh violated the UWW and WADA rules of informing the apex bodies of her intentions of a comeback six months in advance. Accordingly, it added that she is ineligible to compete till June 26, 2026 after she announced her comeback last December.

Vinesh, however, claimed that she was cleared by the International Testing Agency (ITA), a body governed by WADA, already cleared her to compete. She also explained her two counts of ‘whereabouts failure’ or ‘missed tests’ by NADA and WADA, saying she would have been banned by the anti-doping watchdogs if she violated their rules.

“If I had violated any rule, then NADA India would have given me a show-cause notice. Or they would have banned me. Or WADA would have given me a show-cause notice. I had missed one whereabouts. And there are three of them. I had become a mother at that time. I had an assembly session. I forgot to update. I even apologised to WADA for that. They gave me a clean chit. They told me that I can participate in any international event,” she said.

Vinesh took to social media to share a screenshot of an email from the ITA has cleared her to compete from January 1, 2026 onwards.

Elaborating further on the conspiracy against her claims, Vinesh added that the show-cause notice was sent to her on purpose on Friday night, when courts are closed. She further added that all the roadblocks are being created for her to get tired and quit.

WFI refutes claim

“I got the notice on Friday night. Saturday I was reducing weight and doing paperwork. They knew exactly when to send the notice, when courts would be closed and when filing would become difficult. This is all pre-planned. I informed WFI on December 12 of my comeback, why send it two days before the competition?” she alleged.

Meanwhile, WFI chief Sanjay, however, refuted the allegations, adding that the notice went to her late because she only recently filled in for the tournament (April 27), adding she remains ineligible to compete untill the disciplinary proceeding -- by the WFI panel -- is completed.

“The show-cause notice was served late because we recently learned of her registration for the event. There was no intention to send it that late as preparing such elaborated notice (15 pages) takes time,” the WFI chief said.

He further added that the federation is not satisfied with her response for competing in two weight divisions during the Olympic trials in Patiala in 2024. While it was flagged as ‘unsportsman-like conduct’, which also violates UWW competition rules, Sanjay asserted that they will make a decision only after getting a satisfactory response.