Vinesh Phogat wins from Julana constituency in Haryana Assembly elections

Former wrestler Vinesh Phogat began her political career on a winning note on Tuesday, emerging triumphant from the Julana constituency in the Assembly Elections in Haryana. Vinesh, an Indian National Congress candidate, defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s Yogesh Kumar by 6015 votes.

The 30-year-old Vinesh retired from wrestling after her Paris Olympics campaign, where she was disqualified from the competition on the day of her 50kg gold medal bout as she had failed to make weight. She appealed the decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport, asking for a joint silver medal to be awarded, but it was unsuccessful.

A three-time Olympian, Vinesh has three Commonwealth Games golds, two World Championships bronze medals and one Asian Games gold medal to her name. She was also crowned Asian champion in 2021.

Vinesh hails from the illustrious Phogat wrestling family. Her cousins, Geeta, Sangeeta and Babita are also wrestlers. Olympic bronze medallist Bajrang Punia is married to her cousin Sangeeta.

For most part of 2023, Vinesh, alongside Sakshi and Bajrang, led a protest against the erstwhile administrators of the Wrestling Federation of India, then led by long-term president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. Vinesh and Sakshi levelled allegations of sexual harassment and mental abuse among other serious grievances of abuse of power within the federation and spent many weeks protesting on the streets at Jantar Mantar.