CHANDIGARH: Wrestler Vinesh Phogat announced on Friday that she is reversing her decision to retire and will be targeting the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
The 31-year-old Vinesh, the only Indian woman wrestler to win gold at both the Asian and Commonwealth Games, said that her passion for wrestling remains as strong as ever and she hopes to win a medal for India.
"People kept asking if Paris was the end. For a long time, I did not have the answer. I needed to step away from the mat, from the pressure, from the expectations, even from my own ambitions. For the first time in years, I allowed myself to breathe," she posted on social media.
"I took time to understand the weight of my journey the highs, the heartbreaks, the sacrifices, the versions of me the world never saw. And somewhere in that reflection, I found the truth, I still love the sport, I still want to compete," she wrote.
Vinesh, who is the sitting Congress MLA from the Julana assembly segment in Haryana, further stated, "In that silence, I found something I'd forgotten: 'the fire never left'. It was only buried under exhaustion and noise. The discipline, the routine, the fight... it's in my system. No matter how far I walked away, a part of me stayed on the mat."
"So here I am, stepping back toward LA28 with a heart that's unafraid and a spirit that refuses to bow," she added.
She concluded, "And this time, I'm not walking alone. My son is joining my team - my biggest motivation, my little cheerleader on this road to the LA Olympics."
Vinesh will now join the list of elite Indian athletes who returned to competition after childbirth. The Olympian, who is married to wrestler Somvir Rathee, welcomed a baby boy in July this year.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Vinesh had delivered a remarkable performance and reached the final. But in a shocking turn of events, she was disqualified just hours before the gold-medal bout for being 100 grams overweight.
Heartbroken, she announced her retirement soon after on August 8, 2024, writing on X, "Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken. I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me)." Her appeal against the decision was later rejected.