Vinesh Phogat is retired. In fact, she is now an active politician. But every now and then, she has dropped hints of reconsidering her decision, which was taken a day after she was disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024, hours before her gold medal bout in the 50kg category. November 4 was another such day when Vinesh Phogat teased a return to wrestling. She posted a photograph from her Olympic appearance in Paris earlier this year.

Vinesh’s Instagram post, written in Hindi, left everyone guessing. The champion wrestler did not mention anything about a retirement U-turn but the photo and the words she used were symbolic.

“मान लिया तू है आज थक गया, मान लिया तू है आज घायल परिंदा, पर हौसला तुझमें अब भी बाकी है, लक्ष्य के लिए अब भी तू है जिंदा। (Granted, you’re tired today. Granted, today you’re a wounded bird. But you still have courage within you. You’re still alive for the sake of your goal),” Vinesh wrote.

India’s Rio Olympics bronze medalist and Vinesh’s very good friend Sakshi Malik liked the post. Vinesh, Sakshi and Bajrang Punia were also the prominent faces of the wrestlers’ protest.

From Olympic heartbreak to politics: Vinesh Phogat’s journey

Vinesh, the Asian Games gold medallist, created history by becoming the first female Indian wrestler to qualify for the gold medal match in the Olympics. She had defeated four-time wrestling world champion Yui Susaki of Japan on her way to the final but hours before the summit clash that would have given her a shot at ultimate glory and assured India another medal, tragedy struck. Vinesh was found to be 100 grams overweight in the weigh-in process that happens on the morning of every major wrestling event and was subsequently disqualified.

According to the United World Wrestling (UWW) rules, if a wrestler fails the weigh-in process at any point in the tournament, all her previous results become null and void. Vinesh appealed against the verdict. She wanted the silver medal for which she had earned the rights by winning three bouts on the first day of the event, but the Court of Arbitration for Sports ruled against her, and she had to return empty-handed.

After returning to India with a hero’s welcome, Vinesh joined Congress and tasted immediate success in the Haryana assembly elections. She defeated BJP’s Yogesh Bajrangi from Julana in the Jind district. She is not the first woman wrestler from the state to join politics and contest elections. Her cousin Babita Phogat had unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls in 2019 from Charkhi Dadri.