Vinesh Phogat refuted all the allegations levelled at her by the Wrestling Federation of India but one. She completely disagreed with the accusations that she displayed negative behaviour against her wrestling teammates and that she refused to train with the Indian contingent. She, however, admitted to the “unintentional” error of wearing the wrong singlet, where she did not wear the one provided by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Vinesh started her reply, as published in the Indian Express, saying that she was “distraught upon receiving the said Notice, especially immediately after the Tokyo Olympics 2020.”
Vinesh completely denied WFI’s allegation that she showed negative behaviour with teammates for refusing to stay and train with the Indian contingent at Olympics village. Vinesh cleared that she was only following the Covid-19 protocols laid down by the International Olympic Committee & government of Japan in the athletes playbook.
> Vinesh Phogat Explains Why She Did Not Stay with Indian Team at Tokyo Olympics
The response referred to the ‘Test, Trace and Isolate’ regulations, according to which every athlete arriving from India had to undergo a 3-day mandatory quarantine. Since Vinesh flew in from Hungary, she was not required to do the same and hence, she chose to safeguard both herself and the other wrestlers.
Following the protocols, Vinesh was to stay with the track and field contingent because they had arrived earlier and hence, she stayed with Revathi Veeramani, Subha Venkatesan and Sekar Dhanalakshmi.
“The Athlete did not stay separately from the Indian contingent, as even the athletics contingent was a part of the larger Indian contingent at the Tokyo Olympics 2020,” the response stated.
Vinesh, thereafter, decided to stay with the athletics contingent itself because she was accustomed to the surroundings. “The actions of the Athlete were genuine and well intentioned as, immediately after the rest of the wrestling contingent had undergone the quarantine period, the Athlete regularly joined the other female wrestlers for lunch and dinner every day from 31.07.2021 (post completion of quarantine period) till her stay at the Olympic Village,” the reply said.
REFUSAL TO TRAIN
Vinesh called the allegation that she refused to train with the Indian wrestlers “false”. The response said that Vinesh had travelled for the July 29 afternoon training along with the Indian wrestling team but trained on different mats only to avoid the risk of Covid-19 that comes with a contact sport.
After the Indians had completed their quarantine, the reply said that Vinesh trained with Seema Bisla on August 3-4.
The response further stated why Vinesh changed her training timings from the rest of the contingent – it was to align timings with the shooting team physiotherapist that she was assigned. The physio became available post 21:15 hrs Japan Standard Time (JST) and that stretched Vinesh’s day beyond 22:00 hrs. Thereafter, Vinesh requested a change in training schedule to an earlier time so that her sleeping pattern would not be disturbed.
> Vinesh Phogat Reveals Struggle with Depression, Concussion; Details Tokyo Bout Day Trouble
While the other wrestlers were hesitant in discussing the same, Vinesh did that with head coach Kuldeep Malik, who showed full cooperation and gave her the permission to change her schedule. The reply also said that even though Vinesh was training with her personal coach, she did keep the head coach informed of her training schedule.
The reply spelt out Vinesh’s achievements reaching the World No. 1 rank and stated: “The Athlete has always honoured and respected the role of the WFI and its members in her growth and her journey. The Athlete has always been a team player and the Athlete’s conduct in previous international tournaments is testament of the same.”
The reponse further said that post the end of the Indian wrestling contingent’s quarantine, Vinesh regularly had lunch and dinner with them.
After refuting the above two allegations, Vinesh admitted to her error in wearing the wrong singlet. “The athlete hereby acknowledges the regretful error of not wearing the official Indian Olympic jersey/singlet as provided by IOA and the said error by the Athlete is solely attributable to the unintentional & incorrect planning by the Athlete,” the reply said.
She said that the Indian jersey she wore to the training was not washed on the day of the competition due to prior circumstances and even though the error was made it was not ill-intentioned.
The reply stated that from a day before the bout, Vinesh had been feeling uncomfortable and nauseous and vomited before her first bout at the Olympics. “It is pertinent to mention that the Athlete wore the official jersey/kit of India for all training sessions at the Olympic Village, including at her training sessions on August 2-3-4. The Athlete had been donning the full official kit (including t-shirts, track suit & shoes) at all times, even till before the start of her Olympic bout on 05.08.2021… The Athlete, amidst all the chaos that was happening with her body, could not ensure if she was carrying the official jersey (wrestling singlet) of India or not. The Athlete humbly and unconditionally apologises to WFI and IOA for not being able to wear the official jersey/singlet at her Olympic bout.”.
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