Vinesh Phogat's old post goes viral after Olympic feat: ‘Dear haters…’
Vinesh Phogat scripted history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympic finals. Her old post has gone viral.
Vinesh Phogat scripted history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympic finals. After spending a good part of the last one year spearheading a protest against alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers by the Wrestlers' Federation of India (WFI) former President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, she made the 50kg summit clash defeating Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez 5-0 in the semifinals.
With this feat, Phogat is assured of at least a silver medal. Her historic semi-final win at the Paris Olympics comes after Phogat, Sakshi Malik and other athletes staged a long sit-in protest in Delhi early last year against the alleged sexual harassment of women wrestlers by BJP’s Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. They were vilified by certain sections of the internet for the protest, detained by the police and even travelled to Haridwar to throw their medals into the Ganges, but were stopped by farmers' leader Naresh Tikait at the last moment.
In the backdrop of this, Phogat’s victory is being hailed as redemption.
Meanwhile, a post shared by Vinesh Phogat back in March 2024 has resurfaced online after her Olympic feat. Back in March, the 29-year-old wrestler had shared a post which read: “Dear haters, I have so much more for you to be mad at. Just be patient.”
Take a look:
The post has been widely re-tweeted after her Paris Olympics feat. It has crossed over 1.2 million views on X.
“Queen inside and outside the Ring , just remembered who stayed with you in your tough time and who bullied you,” reads one comment, shared yesterday.
“How prophetic she was,” another said.
Phogat (50kg) became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Olympic Games with a convincing 5-0 win over Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez here on Tuesday. With the semifinal win, Vinesh guaranteed herself at least a silver medal.
"Gold laana hai (Have to bring gold)," she told her teary-eyed mother Premlata over a quick video call after the bout.
(With inputs from PTI)