Vinesh Phogat was considered as India’s best medal hopefuls in the 2016 Rio Olympics but a horrific knee injury saw her forfeiting the match and her campaign ended in tears.
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“I knew that I had to wake up, cry, sleep again.” This was the feeling Vinesh Phogat had for the first two to three months after the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympics when she spoke with Hindustan Times. She was not crying because she had lost out on the chance of a medal. The despair on Vinesh Phogat was because her best chances of a medal were snatched in cruel circumstances by injury. The image of Vinesh Phogat being stretchered off in tears in Rio 2016 was the defining image for India in that edition of the Olympics.
There were plenty of reasons as to why Vinesh Phogat was expected to win a medal. The Bhiwani girl had won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2014 and had secured bronze in the Incheon Asian Games. Even before the Olympics, Vinesh had great momentum by securing the silver medal in the Doha Asian Championships. Having qualified for the Rio Olympics, the hopes of a medal all rested on her.
Vinesh started Rio 2016 on the ultimate high. She beat Romania’s Emilia Alina Vuc in the opening bout 11-0. The Haryana girl was a great prospect for a medal in her 48kg category. In the quarterfinal, she had to face China’s Sun Yunan. In the first period, Vinesh opened the scoring with a point but Yanan was quick to fight back with a single-leg takedown to add two points to her kitty.
But, it was during the takedown that disaster struck Vinesh and India. She suffered a knee injury and could not continue. The injury looked very serious at that time. Many feared if Vinesh would ever wrestle again. While she was getting treatment, the whole nation prayed. Unfortunately, Vinesh could not continue and with tears, she left the arena in a stretcher.
Luckily, her knee was not fractured. It was just a tendon tear which would need some months of rehabilitation. Had it been a knee fracture, her wrestling career was probably over. She arrived in India on a wheelchair. When Vinesh won the Arjuna Award in 2016, she had come on a wheelchair. The image of Vinesh being stretchered off and been on a wheelchair for some months was truly a heartbreaking sight.
Vinesh was under rehabilitation in Bangalore. But, her Olympic dreams are still alive. When one asks about the situation that occurred in Rio, Vinesh pours out her ambition and the desire to do well.
“I just wanted to shake it off, get up and continue. But my legs just didn’t move. I was like ‘just give me a few painkillers. I want to go in there again.’ I just didn’t want to give up. That’s not me. But that didn’t happen. I could see everything slip off my hand and I was there, lying helpless,” Vinesh said at that time.
The injury and following surgery made Vinesh more determined and focused. She grabbed the silver in the 2017 Asian Wrestling Championships. In the aftermath of Rio, she has adjusted to the new weight category of 53 kg brilliantly. 2018 was truly a fabulous year for Vinesh. She again secured silver in the Asian Wrestling Championships. She won the Commonwealth Games gold medal for the second time but in the Asian Games, she created history.
Vinesh became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold in the Asiad in Jakarta. In the 2019 World Championships in Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan, Vinesh secured the bronze that secured her the passage to Tokyo Olympics.
It is the hurt of Rio 2016 that continues to boost Vinesh Phogat’s dreams. With the Tokyo Olympics postponed by one year, she had additional time to prepare. But, at the same time, Vinesh has moved on from the disaster in Rio. In many interviews, she has stated that she needs to move on and and not brood upon the past.
2016 Rio was heartbreaking for India in many ways. PV Sindhu’s opportunity to win a Badminton gold was crushed by Carolina Marin as she lost in three tough games. Dipa Karmakar in Gymnastics, Abhinav Bindra in shooting, and Sania Mirza-Rohan Bopanna’s near misses in Tennis also hurt India. Sindhu’s heartbreak, combined with the crushing of Vinesh’s dream summed up a dark period for India in the Olympics. The glory of Sakshi Malik’s bronze and Sindhu’s silver was kept in the background by the injury to Vinesh.
In Tokyo 2021, the Indian wrestler will be gunning for glory. Having secured glory in the last couple of years, this is the best chance for Vinesh to exorcise the ghosts of Rio 2016 and achieve glory in Tokyo 2021.
