Editorial: Deserving heroes

NEW DELHI: In a heartbreaking reversal of fortunes for Team India, wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics after being found overweight by 100 grams ahead of her women's 50 kg freestyle wrestling event, which left her bereft of the glory of a gold medal. Phogat had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to make it to the gold medal stage in her category on Tuesday night. For all practical purposes, she was set to return at least with a silver medal, but this unexpected development has ensured that she will return empty-handed on account of the disqualification.

It might appear to be an instance of downbeat deja vu, but Phogat was once disqualified from an Olympic qualifying event prior to 2016 Rio Olympics for being overweight by 400 grams. A popular theory doing the rounds is that Phohat’s team should have declared her injured and retained at least the silver medal. But the Olympic rules wouldn't have permitted her to do so. This time around, what has inflicted the proverbial equivalent of death by a thousand cuts on India's pride is the fact that Phogat had hoisted the tricolour at the Paris Olympics by winning the pre-quarter, quarter final and semi-final in a quick span of seven hours. She had grappled with the world wrestling gold medalist from Japan — Yui Susaki, who had a significantly enviable track record of not losing even once in her last 82 bouts — and vanquished her much to the chagrin of a gobsmacked Tokyo, and to the delight of a billion beating hearts in India.

There are questions aplenty, even those regarding the possibility of foul play in Phogat's disqualification, that are hounding our collective conscience and will in turn give sleepless nights to the nation's sports fraternity. The Opposition tore into the ruling dispensation and questioned why the Wrestling Federation of India and the government were pretending to be mute spectators, and not kicking down the doors of the International Olympic Committee, like the national contingent of any ‘wronged’ athlete would be obligated to do. They even called out Sports Minister Mansukh Mandviya for not having flown out to Paris on account of this development.

Concurrently, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) President Sanjay Singh sought action against the support staff attached with Phogat in the wake of her shock exit, saying the blunder of not maintaining her weight before the final was not acceptable. Obviously, it’s a time when mudslinging, passing the buck and proceedings of the blame game will fly fast and furious.

However, it is worth remembering that Phogat’s journey to Paris has been rife with hardships of a debilitating kind. A year ago, she had raised allegations of sexual misconduct against the then WFI Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and had been at the forefront of a 140-day long protest aimed at providing justice to women wrestlers in the country. Footage of her and the other agitators being hauled like ‘common rioters’ through the pavements of New Delhi are seared into the subconscious of citizens, many of whom had written off Phogat as a has-been. She was anything but.

Needless to say, in pursuit of our collective dreams of Olympic gold, Phogat had transformed herself into a hero that our country needed, and not one that our country actually, and truly deserves.