Celebrities reacted on Thursday after Vinesh Phogat bid adieu to her international wrestling career. Gulshan Devaiah, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Dharmendra and Sophie Choudry, among others, have penned notes extending their support to the wrestler. 

Gulshan pens note for Vinesh

Gulshan Devaiah shared a picture of Vinesh on X (formerly Twitter) and shared a slightly different take. "Emotionally I hope an appeal is accepted & Vinesh is awarded the Silver but I also feel it’s unfair on every other athlete who’s been disqualified earlier under the same circumstances. I’m deciding to accept it and move on but it’s not really about how I feel."

He added, "This must be unimaginable devastating on Vinesh & her team. As a fellow Indian, I say thank you champ!!! Be Well (raised hands emoji). Vande Mataram (folded hands emoji)."

A person commented on his post, “Just to know, when was the last time a player was disqualified like this in the finals?” Gulshan replied, “I don’t know. As much as i want her to win, get our appeal accepted, I’d want it to be on fair grounds. I’m no expert on this field or claim to have stats stacked in my inbox. I’m her fellow Indian who’s upset with this situation & also wanting this to be fair because I don’t want anyone questioning her win if the appeal is accepted (I hope it is & I hope our officials are making a strong case) More importantly i hope she’s ok with this unfortunate situation. The pressure and disappointment is unimaginable to us.”

Samantha reacts to news of Vinesh's retirement

Samantha shared a news article about Vinesh's retirement on her Instagram Stories. She didn't caption it but added a broken heart emoji.

Dharmendra, Sophie share posts too

Dharmendra posted a photo of Vinesh on his Instagram. He captioned the post, "Darling daughter Vinesh, we are extremely sad to hear the news. You are a brave adventurous daughter of the soil. we love you and always pray for your health and happiness. Be happy healthy and strong for your family and your loving people (folded hands emoji)."

Sophie tweeted, "I’m not going to pretend to be an expert in any sport but a woman’s body gains weight even with the slightest hormonal change every few days. I understand weight limitation. 0.5kg seems an acceptable cutoff on day 2. To have 0kg excess after a bout and less than 12hrs for a weigh in seems excessive. Did the other finalist also have the same amount of time from her semi final bout to her next weigh in?"

What happened with Vinesh at Paris Olympics

29-year-old Vinesh, who was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout in the Olympics on Wednesday, announced her decision on social media, seeking forgiveness from everyone who supported her. Addressing her mother Premlata, Vinesh, a three-time Olympian, wrote, "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 decision came a day after Vinesh appealed against her disqualification from the Olympic finals in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal. She spent a good part of the day at a polyclinic inside the Games village owing to severe dehydration caused by her desperate measures to make the cut, which included going hungry, avoiding fluids and staying up all night to sweat it out. Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinals, replaced her in the final against American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.

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