"It's part of the game" - Vinesh Phogat tells Indian coaches who met her after Paris Olympics exit

Vinesh Phogat had to bow out of the Paris Olympics 2024 after she was disqualified from the final of the 50 kg freestyle wrestling category. The Indian wrestler accumulated two kilograms of weight on Tuesday night. She took immense measures to cut down her weight but missed the cut by a fraction—100 grams.

While numerous people supported Phogat in such a situation, Saina Nehwal was critical of the wrestler. Former wrestler and once Phogat's colleague in the sport, Sakshi Malik, even shared how stressful it is to cut down weight to meet the criteria allocated.

In the midst of this, after the disqualification from the Olympic Games final, the wrestler told the Indian coaches who met her (quote received from PTI):

"It's part of the game."

Several IOA officials, along with women's national coach Virender Dahiya and Manjeet Rani, were there to meet Phogat. Dahiya told PTI:

"It sent a shockwave through the wrestling contingent. The girls were feeling pretty low after the news broke. We met Vinesh and tried to console her. She was brave. She told us, 'it's hard luck that we missed the medal, but it is part of the game.'"

---

Vinesh Phogat's third Olympic campaign

This was Vinesh Phogat's third Olympics campaign after the wrestler took part in the editions held in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. She had a strong outing in the ongoing Games and became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Olympic Games.

However, this is not the first time luck hasn't been on her side. Back in the Rio Olympics, she had to retire during the quarter-final clash as she suffered an ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) injury. The next edition in Tokyo, too, saw her bow out of the quarterfinals.

In the ongoing Olympics, she was supposed to take on the USA's Sarah Hildebrandt in the final. But now, her disqualification from the Paris edition means she won't be getting even the silver medal, despite defeating top wrestlers (one such wrestler is Tokyo Olympics' gold-medalist Yui Susaki) on her way to the ultimate clash.