Visibly distraught after her Paris Olympics 2024 disqualification from a gold medal match, a frustrated Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling, on Thursday. Revealing the decision on X, she wrote, "Wrestling won match against me, I lost... Your dreams and my courage are shattered. I don't have any more strength now. Goodbye Wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be indebted to all of you. Sorry".

Due to reportedly being 100gm overweight, she was disqualified from her event final and also stripped of her medal.

From a wrestling family

Considered to be one of India's finest in wrestling history, Vinesh also comes from a proper wrestling family. She is a three-time Olympian, and has three Commonwealth Games gold medals, two World Championships bronze, and one Asian Games gold in her cabinet. She was also the Asian champion in 2021.

She followed the footsteps of her cousins Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari, and she belongs to a famous wrestling family, and was introduced to the sport at a very early age by her uncle Mahavir Singh Phogat.

A child prodigy and stunning start to senior career

After a stunning junior career, Vinesh got her first major international title at the 2014 CWG, getting gold in the 48kg category. She sealed her quota place for Rio 2016 by winning her Olympic qualifying event in Istanbul. But in Rio, after she reached the quarters, her dreams of winning a medal came crashing down, as she dislocated her right knee midway through the bout.

Post Rio 2016

Post Rio 2016, she managed to grab gold medals at both 2018 CWG and Asian Games, and then moved to the 53kg category for 2019. She bagged bronze at the Asian Wrestling C'ships, and then her maiden World C'ships medal, which saw her secure a place for Tokyo 2020.

Ahead of Tokyo Olympics, she was in good form, and was unbeaten throughout the year, also winning her first gold at the 2021 Asian C'ships. In Tokyo 2020, she was seeded first in the women's 53kg, and began with a win over Sweden's Sofia Mattsson. But then she lost her next bout and was knocked out. Later, Vinesh revealed that she wasn't in good mental, physical condition during Tokyo 2020, and also had an elbow surgery after that.

She returned to action in 2022, and got a bronze at the World C'ships in Belgrade and also a Birmingham CWG gold. She was also named BBC Indian Sportswoman of the year, after her protest against former WFI president BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment by many female wrestlers.

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