Vinesh Phogat’s knee injury means Antim Phangal, the reserve, can go for Asian Games | Sport-others News
Two-time World Championship bronze medall Vinesh Phogat announced on her social media that she had suffered a left knee injury while training and would not be taking part in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. Phogat said that she sustained the knee injury in a training session on August 13 and that she would be undergoing surgery on August 17 in Mumbai.
The 28-year-old had been selected for the Asian Games, despite not having given a trial due to the Indian Olympic Association’s ad-hoc committee’s ruling that current World Championship medal winners would get a e for the trials. It meant that both Phogat and 65kg Tokyo bronze medall Bajrang Punia would make it into the Asian Games team without trials.
In her social media post, Vinesh said, “A couple of days ago on 13th August 2023, I injured my left knee in training. After doing the scans and examinations, the doctor has said that unfortunately, surgery is the only option for me to recover.
“I will be undergoing surgery on 17th August in Mumbai. It was my dream to retain my Asian Games Gold medal for India which I won in 2018 at Jakarta. But unfortunately, this injury has ruled out my participation now, have informed all concerned authorities immediately so that the Reserve player can be sent to the Asian Games,” Vinesh added.
Phogat also said that she hopes to return in time for the preparations of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Phogat has not competed in any tournament in 2023. She was at the forefront of the wrestling protests that began late last year accusing the Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Singh Sharan of allegedly sexually harassing women wrestlers.
The reserve wrestler that Phogat mentioned in her post is 19-year-old Antim Panghal, India’s first-ever U20 World Champion. Panghal is currently in Jordan to compete in her second U20 World Championships.
Antim, the Hisar-native had won the Asian Games trials in the 53kg category on July 22 and 23rd in New Delhi. But both Bajrang Punia and Phogat were given exemptions for the Asian Games on the basis that they were ‘iconic athletes’.
When the ad-hoc committee’s ruling was announced, Antim decided to seek recourse from the Delhi High Court.
But on the very day of the trials, after winning her three bouts in convincing fashion, news streamed in that the petition she had filed at the Delhi High Court challenging the ad-hoc committee’s ruling was ruled in favour of Phogat. Antim was announced as a stand and was told that she could participate in the Asian Games if Phogat, who has multiple Asiad medals, would pull out.
At 28, Phogat’s latest knee injury is another in a long l that the talented wrestler has had to face in her career. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Phogat’s promising campaign ended abruptly when she suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in her right knee during her quarterfinal bout against China’s Sun Yunan. She then had to undergo surgery on her right elbow twice, once in September 2021 prior to the World Championships, and then again, this year in June.
According to a source, the latest injury is on her left knee and is a ‘complete tear’ of the anterior cruciate ligament and a ‘partial tear’ of the lateral collateral ligament. In 2016, after her surgery, Phogat’s right ACL tear had taken five months of rehabilitation before she was back in training. Going the same timeline, Phogat is not going to be a part of the World Championships trials that the ad-hoc committee had announced from August 25-26 in Patiala.
