4 min readGonda (up)May 12, 2026 08:06 AM IST
Vinesh Phogat credits her 10-month-old son Kridhav for bringing joy to her life after the 2024 Paris heartbreak, fuelling her with the energy to fight the system and giving her the courage to dream of watching him cheer her at the next Olympics.
She said this hours after a meeting with Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh, who blocked her attempt to return to the mat at the Open National Ranking tournament in Gonda — the home turf of former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, whom she had accused of sexually harassing her.
“My son has fixed my heart. After being ineligible to compete in the final at the Paris Olympics, I had run out of emotions. But my son has brought back joy into my life. The energy I have discovered to fight against the system is coming from my son. They say a child is God’s gift,” Vinesh told The Indian Express.
“I am feeling good about my comeback because I know Kridhav is seeing me. I dream of going to the Olympics and seeing my son cheer for me. That thought is a big motivation,” she said.
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This came two days after she was issued a show-cause notice over a range of charges and barred from competition till June 26. Vinesh said the federation was determined to stop her from participating in this year’s Asian Games. “The WFI is a dictatorship. They are afraid that I will win medals again. Basically, the WFI wants to stop me from participating in the Asian Games and they want me to retire,” she alleged.
Vinesh, along with husband Somvir and a group of wrestlers, reached the Nandininagar Mahavidyalaya in Nawabganj, Gonda, past 4 pm for the official verification for the women’s freestyle competition. A Congress MLA from Julana, she was accompanied by security personnel and her convoy had a police escort.
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“I told the WFI president (Sanjay Singh) that I got the notice on Friday night and was given 14 days to reply. I have a son to take care of… I gave a short reply because of lack of time… but let me compete now. After 14 days, if you are not satisfied with my reply, you can take action,” Vinesh said.
“But the WFI president said, ‘No, you have to give a detailed reply and after that we will form a committee after 14-15 days and it will decide’. I told them, ‘I hope the committee will meet before the 2028 Olympics’. Basically, the WFI’s target is to stop me from participating in the Asian Games,” she said.
The WFI, meanwhile, issued a statement reiterating that Vinesh was ineligible to participate in the competition in Gonda. “Phogat was provided full security from the moment she arrived. As witnessed by everyone present, she met the officials and was informed about her ineligibility to participate, as per the rules and procedures in place,” it said.
Later in the evening, Vinesh posted on X that the International Testing Agency had given her the green signal to compete from January 1, 2026. She also said that after a missed dope test in December 2025 and a previous failure to adhere to the whereabouts norm in September 2024, she “co-operated with the relevant result management authorities” and that “both events do not amount to an anti-doping rule violation”.
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