‘Vinesh Phogat ne ek Olympic medal ka nuksaan karvaya’ | More sports News – Times of India

Vinesh Phogat at the Paris Olympics (Reuters Photo)

Former India wrestler and 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt lashed out at Vinesh Phogat for costing India an Olympic medal and portraying a wrong image in front of the country instead of apologizing after her disqualification at the Paris Games.
Dutt, who is a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politician these days, and Vinesh’s sister Babita Phogat, who is also in the BJP, were part of a debate on ‘Aaj Tak’ ahead of the Haryana Assembly Elections.
Vinesh, who quit wrestling after her Olympic disqualification and joined the Indian National Congress upon her return, is contesting from the Julana constituency in Jind. She was found 100gm overweight at the weigh-in ahead of her gold-medal match in Paris in the women’s 50kg freestyle competition.
After her elimination, Vinesh lost her appeal for a joint silver medal with the Court of Arbitration of Sport. She announced her retirement from Paris itself and after returning home accused the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for not supporting her.
Vinesh alleged that the IOA president, PT Usha, used an image with her at the hospital in Paris to show solidarity and support, which was nothing but posturing.
“To enter politics is a personal choice. I am in the BJP, Babita is in the BJP, she (Vinesh) has joined Congress. But the country should know the truth,” said Dutt, who has tense relations with the Vinesh, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik — the three leading figures of protests against former Wrestling Federation of India chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
“The things that happened in the last one year, be it the Paris Olympic disqualification or the wrestling protest at a time when the new Sansad (Bhavan) was to be inaugurated, India’s image was wrongly portrayed in front of the world,” Dutt said.
Talking about the Paris Olympics, Dutt said “Vinesh ko poore desh se maafi mangni chahiye thi, ek medal ka nuksaan karvaya.”
“The first thing is that if a player gets disqualified, that person should apologize to the country, that ‘I was at fault, I cost India a medal’,” said the 41-year-old Dutt. “Instead it was given the name of a conspiracy, even the Prime Minister was blamed…Everybody knows that if you weigh over your weight, be it 1 gm, 2 gm or 100 gram, you are disqualified (from a competition), but it was wrongly portrayed.”
“Even after costing the country a medal, a perception was created that Vinesh got a rough deal. If I were in Vinesh’s place, I would have apologized to the entire country.”