Vinesh Phogat Height, Weight, Age, Husband, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vinesh Phogat

• Vinesh Phogat is a renowned Indian wrestler. In Commonwealth and Asian Games, she became the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold medals in both events. In 2019, she was regarded as the first woman athlete in India who was nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards.

• Vinesh is the niece of renowned Indian wrestler, Mahavir Singh Phogat (amateur wrestler & senior Olympics Coach).
  

  Mahavir Singh while posing with Phogat sisters

• As her father expired quite early, she was raised by a single parent, her mother.

• In 2013, she won the bronze medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi, India in the match with her opponent Tho-Kaew Sriprapa of Thailand in the women’s freestyle 52 kg category.

• In 2013, she won a silver medal at Commonwealth Wrestling Championships organised in Johannesburg, South Africa in the women’s freestyle 51 kg category. Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria defeated her in this exclusive tournament.

• In 2014, she won a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in the women’s freestyle 48 kg category. In this match, she defeated her opponent Yana Rattigan of England to win the gold.
  

  Vinesh Phogat while kissing her gold medal that she won at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow

• In 2014, she won a bronze medal at Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea in the women’s freestyle 48 kg category. Vinesh defeated her opponent Narangerel Eredenesukh of Mongolia in this championship.

• In 2015, Vinesh won a silver medal at Asian Championships organised in Doha. She was defeated by her opponent Yuki Irie of Japan in the finals.

• Based on her and her family’s life, a biopic film Dangal was made by Aamir Khan in 2016 to showcase her path to success.
  

  A photo comparing Dangal and the real-life photo

• In 2016, Vinesh won the final round of the match after defeating her opponent from Poland, Iwona Matkowska, and got qualified for the Rio Olympics. Vinesh reached the Quarter Finals at the Summer Olympics in Rio in 2016. She lost to the Sun Yanan of China and received a knee injury.

• Vinesh went to receive her Arjuna award on a wheelchair in 2016. In an interview, she shared her experience,
  

  I refused to go. I had just undergone the (knee) operation and didn’t want anyone to see me in that condition. But my doctor Dinshaw Pardiwala asked me to go. When I went there people wanted my pictures, interview. It made me feel insecure and I wanted to run away because emotionally you are scattered.”

  

  Shri Pranab Mukherjee while presenting the Arjuna Award for the year-2016 to Vinesh for Wrestling, in a glittering ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi

• Vinesh got married to her fellow wrestler Somvir Rathee on 13 December 2018. They both are Indian railways’ employees and at the workplace, they fell in love with each other.

• In 2018, she appeared in a video interview and shared her childhood wrestling experience.

• In 2018, she won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in women’s 50 kg freestyle wrestling.
  

  Vinesh Phogat poses with her gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

• In 2018, she won a gold medal in women’s 50 kg freestyle wrestling at the Asian Games by defeating her opponent Yuki Irie of Japan. On winning this gold medal, she became the first Indian women wrestler to win the gold in Asian Games.
  

  Vinesh Phogat shows off her gold medal from the podium after the medal ceremony for the 50 kg category wrestling competition at the Asian Games 2018

• In 2018, she was also presented with the woman of the year award by Vogue India.
  

  Vinesh while posing with the women of the year award in 2018

• In 2019, Vinesh won a bronze medal by defeating her opponent Qianyu Pang of China in the Asian Wrestling Championships.

• In 2019, she won a gold medal by defeating her opponent Ekaterina Poleshchuk of Russia in the Yasar Dogu International.
  

  Vinesh Phogat with the gold medal that she won at Yasar Dogu in 2019

• In 2019, she bagged her third gold medal for the straight three years at the Poland Open wrestling championships in Warsaw in the women 53 kg category.
  

  Vinesh Phogat while posing after winning the game in Poland in 2019

• In 2019, Vinesh won a maiden World Championship medal at World Wrestling Championships in the women’s 53 kg category and qualified herself for the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

• Vinesh won a gold medal in January 2020 after defeating her opponent Luisa Elizabeth Valverde in Rome Ranking Series.
  

  Vinesh Phogat while wrestling in a championship

• In an interview, she was asked about her practice for Tokyo Olympics amid the lockdown period in 2020. She said,
  

  Yes, I train twice a day. But I also make sure to take all the precautions necessary to keep Coronavirus at bay. I wash my hands regularly before and after training. Also, I only train with my sister Priyanka.”

• In 2020, she won the sportswoman of the year award (Individual).

• In February 2021, she won a gold medal in a tournament held in Kyiv, Ukraine, by defeating her opponent Vanesa Kaladzinskay.

• In 2021, at Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series events, Vinesh Phogat won her second gold medal. She defeated Diana Mary Helen Weicker of Canada from 4-0.

• In 2021, at the Poland Open, Phogat won a gold medal in the women’s 53 kg category and reserved herself for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
  

  Vinesh Phogat posing with her medals

• According to Vinesh, Kaori Icho of Japan was her inspiration in wrestling. In a conversation with a media house, she revealed,
  

  Kaori Icho of Japan has been an inspiration for me. She is four-time Olympics medallist (2004-2016). She is still competing to qualify for Tokyo.”

• In a conversation with a media house, Vinesh narrated her daily routine. She explained,
  

  Every coach changes the plan in 15 days. We don’t know what’s going to come. If you keep doing the same things you will get bored. I am working on strength now because it is season. I am doing weight training, gym four times, then mat sessions. If we have gym in the morning, in the evening I will be on the mat because the stamina we have built we can use it in our training.”

• In 2021, at the Poland wrestling championships, Phogat said that her husband’s advice helped her during the match. She spelt out,
  

  In the first match, I wanted to push more and play more aggressive, it was something my coach did not tell me to do, but my husband did. It was something I did in the final.”

• Vinesh explained her diet-related complications in an interview. She said,
  

  My diet plan is very strict. I have been told not to eat sweets, a lot of ghee. I follow it most of the time. However, when I go to the mat and find out my technique is not that good on that particular day or if I pick up an injury, I get very angry. I think ‘I haven’t done anything on the mat, then why should I follow the diet?’. Then I will eat whatever I want.”

• Various renowned magazines and tabloids often feature her on their cover page.
  

  Vinesh Phogat on the cover page of a magazine

• As an athlete, Vinesh Phogat is a fitness enthusiast. She often shares her pictures on her social media account while working out at the gym.
  

  Vinesh Phogat while at the gym

• In a conversation with a media house, Vinesh Phogat was asked that her opponents had the perception that she was being arrogant for being so headstrong while on the mat. She then replied,
  

  Yes people say that (arrogant) but I know what’s inside me. And if it helps me on the mat, I don’t bother. It helps me on the mat. People say it’s over-confidence but for me it’s belief. I don’t get intimidated and your opponent also notices the body language. Some people work on it but for me it’s God gift.”

• In 2021, at the Tokyo Olympics, she was not able to clinch any medal for India and was sent back to the pavilion.

• After winning her semi-final match at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Vinesh announced that she would not participate in any future Olympic tournaments.

• On 7 August 2024, Vinesh was disqualified from the Paris Olympics before her women’s 50-kg final wrestling match after she was found to be 100 grams overweight. Later, India protested against the decision of the officials.

• After her disqualification, Phogat retired from wrestling. She, on social media, wrote,
  

  Wrestling won the match against me, I lost… My courage is all broken, I don’t have any strength now. Goodbye Wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be in your debt.”

• On 7 August 2024, Vinesh and the IOA filed a plea against the disqualification of the wrestler at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal.

• Thereafter, renowned Indian advocate Harish Salve took over her case to represent her at the CAS.

• On 14 August 2024, her plea was rejected by an ad-hoc division of the CAS, ruling that athletes will have to ensure that they remain below their weight limit and no exception can be provided under any circumstance. However, later, Salve said that Vinesh did not want to challenge the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). He even advised her to appeal the CAS verdict in the Swiss Court, but she refused it.

• In September 2024, Vinesh resigned from her government job in the Indian Railways to become a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). She joined the party with Bajrang Punia.
  

  Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat with Rahul Gandhi

• In October of the same year, she won the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections from the Julana constituency against the BJP candidate Yogesh Bairagi, whom she defeated with over 6000 votes.