CHENNAI: On a day when Senior National Wrestling Championships 2025 began in Ahmedabad, Vinesh Phogat, who had spearheaded a powerful campaign against former Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in the past, announced her decision to come out of retirement.
"People kept asking if Paris was the end. For a long time, I didn't 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," Vinesh posted on her social media accounts. "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 this sport. I still want to compete."
The Haryana wrestler was on the verge of creating history but was disqualified hours before her gold medal bout in the 50kg weight category for being overweight by 50 grams at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She then appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking a joint silver medal, but the verdict remained unchanged, leading her to announce her retirement. She then joined politics and got elected as an MLA from Haryana's Julana constituency on Congress' ticket.
Vinesh became the first woman wrestler from the country to win a medal at the World Championships twice. She won a bronze medal at the 2019 Worlds to qualify for the Tokyo Games and then repeated the feat finishing third at the 2022 edition. Besides, the 31-year-old Vinesh had clinched a bronze and a gold at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games respectively apart from bagging three consecutive gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Despite boasting a successful career that saw her winning numerous accolades, the Olympic medal is missing from her trophy cabinet. "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. 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," she added. She is being supported by OGQ.
A WFI official said Vinesh mailed the federation informing about her decision. "She mailed her decision to the WFI, Sports Authority of India and the sports ministry. The WFI welcomes her back to the fold," said the WFI official.
Vinesh had a frosty relationship with the WFI and all went downhill when she along with Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik launched a movement against Brij Bhushan accusing him of sexual harassment. She had quite a few showdowns with the federation in the first phase of her career. And as she said in her comeback note — the fire never left — the second phase can also be expected to be fiery.