Vinesh Phogat reverses retirement decision, eyes 2028 LA Olympics after…

Vinesh Phogat set to return to wrestling, reverses her retirement decision to pursue her Olympic dreams.

New Delhi:  Wrestler Vinesh Phogat announced her comeback on December 12, confirming she is returning from retirement to pursue her Olympic dream. The 31-year-old announced her retirement from professional wrestling following the controversy at the Paris Olympics, where she was denied a medal despite reaching the final. Vinesh was disqualified on the morning of the gold-medal match for exceeding the weight limit by 100 grams.

Vinesh was on the verge of becoming the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic wrestling final, but her dreams were crushed on the day of the gold-medal bout in Paris.

In addition to her sporting career, Vinesh contested the Haryana Assembly elections last year and won the Julana constituency by a margin of 6,000 votes.

“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.

“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.

Vinesh reverses her retirement decision

“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.”

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Vinesh Phogat has faced a challenging journey at the Olympics. She had to withdraw from her debut Games in 2016 after suffering a knee injury in the quarterfinals. At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she entered as the top-ranked wrestler in her category but was unexpectedly eliminated in the quarterfinals.

In Paris, Vinesh reached the final of the women’s 50kg category on Tuesday, defeating defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan, former European champion Oksana Livach of Ukraine, and reigning Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Guzman. However, she exceeded the weight limit on the morning of the final, shocking fans in India and the global wrestling community.