Vinesh Phogat’s past post went viral following an Olympic achievement: ‘Dear haters…
On Tuesday, Vinesh Phogat made history by becoming the first female wrestler from India to advance to the Olympic finals. She made the 50 kg summit match by defeating Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 in the semifinals, having spent the better part of the previous year leading a protest against the Wrestlers’ Federation of India’s (WFI) former President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers.
Phogat will receive a minimum of a silver medal for this achievement. Following a protracted sit-in protest in Delhi early last year by Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and other athletes over the accused sexual harassment of female wrestlers by BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, she achieved her historic victory in the Paris Olympics semi-final. They were ridiculed on some parts of the internet for their protest, arrested by the police, and even planned to throw their medals into the Ganges at Haridwar, but at the eleventh hour, farmers’ leader Naresh Tikait intervened to stop them.
In light of this, Phogat’s victory is being seen as a form of redemption.
Meanwhile, a post-Vinesh Phogat shared in March 2024 has gone viral again following her Olympic achievement. In the post, the 29-year-old wrestler wrote, “Dear haters, I have so much more for you to be mad at. Just be patient.”
This post has been widely retweeted after her Paris Olympics success, amassing over 1.2 million views on X.
One comment from yesterday reads, “Queen inside and outside the ring. Just remember who stood by you during tough times and who bullied you.”
She was very prophetic, someone else remarked.
Phogat (50 kg) made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympic final with a decisive 5-0 victory over Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez. With this semifinal win, Vinesh secured at least a silver medal.
“Gold laana hai (I have to bring gold),” she told her teary-eyed mother Premlata during a brief video call after the match.
