While the world was busy praising the achievements of the two Phogat sisters, Geeta and Babita, another Phogat sister just stole the limelight with her recent victory in Asian Games 2018. Vinesh Phogat, who is a cousin of Geeta and Babita Phogat, won the Gold medal in women’s freestyle 50kg wrestling.
Every time this 23-year-old wins a medal, a loud cheer should be raised for her father, mother and uncle who dreamt of a winner’s life for their daughter in a man’s world. In Asian Games 2018, Vinesh Phogat played one of the most dramatic sequences of her life so far. Known to use her right leg as a base to launch attacks, Vinesh Phogat, this time used her left leg in the finals, which rattled Japan’s Yuki Irie and landed Vinesh her gold. Irie is known to be one of the trickiest wrestlers.
Apart from knowing that she’s a smart and strong woman, here are a few more things you should know about Vinesh Phogat and her life.
1. Vinesh’s father, Rajpal Phogat, believed that wrestling can be a career choice for women but he died when Vinesh was eight.
2. A couple of years later Vinesh’s mother Premlata was diagnosed with cancer but she didn’t allow this to affect her daughter’s training. Premlata gives a lot of respect and credit to Geeta’s father Mahavir Singh Phogat for breaking the norms for girls.
3. Mahavir Singh Phogat introduced Vinesh and her sister Priyanka to wrestling alongside his own daughters Geeta, Babita, Ritu and Sangeeta.
4. Vinesh suffered a serious knee injury during the Rio Olympics in 2016.
5. It was Vinesh’s father Rajpal Phogat who backed Mahavir Singh Phogat when the entire family was against him. He supported Mahavir’s ideology of making his daughters, professional wrestlers.
6. Much like other strong women, Vinesh believes in standing up for herself. She would beat boys in college if they were rude to her.
7. She has a winning personality. With a childlike enthusiasm, she recently revealed that “I have had too many silver medals. It was silver, silver, silver… (and yes a fair number of bronze, too) but now I wanted a gold.”
8. She won a gold medal in Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast this year and also in 2014, before her injury.
9. Her first medal came in 2013 Asian Championships in the 51kg category. It was a bronze medal.
10. Before becoming a professional wrestler, Vinesh was also interested in tennis. She was thinking about becoming a tennis player before wrestling got her attention.
The 23-year-old medallist now has her eyes set on clinching a gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and we wish her all the luck for that. So proud of you, champion!
Image Source: Hindustan Times
Featured Image Source: The Indian Express
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