The wonder lady, Vinesh Phogat created history on the grounds of Serbia and became the first Indian woman wrestler to win two bronze medals at the World Wrestling Championships in the women’s 53kg category. She achieved brilliance after defeating the European champion, Emma Malmgren of Sweden by 8-0.
Phogat comes from a traditional wrestling family. The wrestling queen was first introduced to wrestling at an early age by her uncle, Mahavir Phogat, who was a former wrestler. Mahavir Phogat is the man who trained Vinesh Phogat along with her cousin sisters, Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumari and Ritu Phogat.
Vinesh’s Uncle, Mahavir, played a significant role in shaping her as a woman wrestler. He went against all odds and encouraged the four girls to break through the stereotypical norms and notions of the society to build a wrestling career for themselves.
The ace Indian woman wrestler hailing from Haryana marked her name as the first woman Indian wrestler to get nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019.
Phogat made her debut in international women’s wrestling in 2013 at the age of 19, when she participated in the Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi, India.
Jitender Yadav, the chief coach of India’s women’s wrestling team described Phogat’s intense efforts just before the bout. He said “You should have seen her the night before. She didn’t have a morsel to eat, didn’t even sip water… had her sauna suit on, did a lot of cardio and slept on an empty stomach. Woke up the next morning and repeated the cycle.”
Two weeks before the championship, Vinesh weighed 5kgs more than the prescribed weight limit. With intense work out and a tight schedule, she was able to shed off 3 kilos of weight in a few days. Reports suggest that in order to be fall in the category of the prescribed weight limit, Phogat had switched to an entirely liquid diet.
According to his coach, Phogat’s Road to recovery wasn’t swift, unfortunately and that was the only reason why she lost her first bout of the championship to Batkhuyag. But once she recovered, she fought like a beast and defeated fourth-seed Jonna Malmgren at 8-0.