Paris Olympics 2024: Meet Vinesh Phogat who defeated legendary Susaki 3-2 to enter wrestling quarters

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Tuesday pulled off one of the biggest upsets at the Paris Games by defeating the hitherto invincible two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion Yui Susaki 3-2 in the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s freestyle 50 kg weight category at Olympics 2024. Later, the Indian wrestler also defeated Oksana Livach of Ukrainian to storm into the semi-finals as she inched closer to an elusive Olympic medal.

The journey to glory of this 29-year-old Indian wrestler from Haryana is filled with struggles. Phogat faced multiple challenges in 2023. She, along with other well-known wrestlers of the country, spent nearly 40 days on the pavements of New Delhi at Jantar Mantar protesting against then National Wrestling Federation chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.\

Early Life

Born on 25 August 1994 in Haryana’s Bhiwani, Phogat comes from a family known for wrestling across the country. She lost his father at a very early stage. She and her sister Priyanka were raised by their uncle, Mahavir Singh Phogat, who taught them wrestling alongside his four daughters, Geeta, Babita, Sangeeta and Ritu, and all six cousins have represented India in the sport. She started wrestling at age seven.

"I was good at wrestling but I wasn't too keen on pursuing it. He (Mahavir) wanted an Olympic medal. We did not even know what that was. We used to wonder, 'Who is this Olympics?' We just wanted the Olympics to show up fast so that we could get a break from my uncle's strict training" Phogat told The Week in an interview in January 2020.

Wrestling Milestones

Phogat became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold at the Commonwealth and Asian Games. In 2013, Phogat won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 52 kg category in Asian Wrestling Championships and silver medal in the freestyle 51 kg category Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Johannesburg.

Phogat is not only two-time Asian Games medallist, winning gold in 2018 (50kg) and a bronze in 2014 (48kg), 2021 53kg Asian champion, but also three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist in 2014 (48kg), 2018 (50kg) and 2022 (53kg).

With her bronze medal in 53kg at the 2022 World Championships, she became the first female Indian wrestler to win multiple medals at a world championships. She had previously won bronze in the weight class in 2019.

With her three Olympic Games appearances, she now has appeared in the most Olympic Games of any female Indian wrestler. She was eliminated in the quarterfinals at both Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. At Rio 2016, she suffered an ACL injury during her match and was forced to retire.

Phogat is also the first Indian athlete to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019

Phogat's Hero

Phogat is inspired by Japanese Freestyle wrestler Kaori Icho. She considers Kaori Icho to be her hero.