200 days of farmers protest: Vinesh Phogat to join agitation at Shambhu and Khanauri borders | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: As the farmers protest completes 200 days on Saturday, Olympian Vinesh Phogat is set to participate by joining those agitating at Shambhu and Khanauri borders.
Since February 13, farmers have been camping at Shambhu after authorities halted their march to Delhi. They are demanding a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops among other issues.
Amritsar district farmer leader Baldev Singh Bagga highlighted that efforts to communicate with the government have gone unanswered.”Farmer organisations had repeatedly written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but have received no responses,” he said. “As Modi enters his 11th year in office, rather than addressing our demands, the govt continues to suppress the voice of farmers,” he alleged.
Convenor of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha Sarvan Singh Pandher passionately appealed to the farmers to gather in significant numbers at the Shambu and Khanauri points on August 31.
Meanwhile, it has been a challenging period for Vinesh. On August 7, she was set to face Sarah Ann Hildebrandt from the United States for Paris Olympics gold medal in the women’s 50kg category. However, she was disqualified before the final match after failing to meet the weight requirement.
She made a plea to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to award her a joint silver medal, but that was dismissed. Following her disqualification, Vinesh announced her retirement from wrestling.

Despite not receiving a medal, she was welcomed back in India with great enthusiasm, and she hinted at a possible return to the sport considering different circumstances. Moreover, she received a hero’s welcome in Bhiwani as thousands of supporters gathered to greet her, offering garlands and flowers, eager to exchange greetings and take selfies with one of India’s top athletes.
In a statement she posted on her social media, Vinesh expressed her enduring passion for wrestling and left the door open for a possible return to the sport.
“Maybe under different circumstances, I could see myself playing till 2032 because the fight in me and wrestling in me will always be there,” she wrote.

Since her announcement, there has been growing anticipation about whether Vinesh might reconsider her decision to retire, leaving her fans hopeful for her return to the wrestling mat.