Vinesh versus WFI

Rules cannot be bent for anyone,” declared Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Sanjay Singh on 11 May, dismissing Olympian Vinesh Phogat’s plea to compete in the Senior Open Ranking wrestling tournament in Gonda (10–12 May). The event was meant to mark Vinesh’s return to competitive wrestling after nearly two years. Instead, it reopened the bitter conflict between India’s most celebrated woman wrestler and the federation she once publicly challenged.

A Congress MLA in Haryana since 2024 and mother to 10-month-old Kridhav, Vinesh (31) arrived in Gonda, ready to compete. But the WFI refused to allow her participation, citing her suspension — till 26 June — and a pending show cause notice. A self-righteous Singh told the media that she must respond to the 15-page notice before the WFI would even consider lifting her suspension. Without that, there was no question of her participating in the three-day championship.

Singh insisted that Vinesh needed to serve a six-month notice before returning to competition. Going by the timeline, that period would be over on 12 June. The show cause notice reached Vinesh on 8 May, ten days after she completed her registration for the Gonda tournament.

Vinesh responded, “If you are indeed acting upon my communication dated 12 December 2025 [announcing her return to competitive wrestling] why did you wait five months to issue a notice and demand a response?” She also pointed out that she had completed her registration two days before the 30 April deadline.

In addition, she referred to a communication from the International Testing Authority (ITA) in Lausanne, Switzerland, stating her eligibility to compete again from 1 January 2026. She shared screenshots of the email (dated 3 July 2025) from Testing Officer Estelle Daloz, which read: ‘Indeed, my apologies for the mistake: you are allowed to compete from January 1st, 2026, onwards’.

Singh disregarded all the above, cited “other violations”, which he insisted she must respond to, and dismissed the arrival of the show cause notice after her registration for the Gonda event as a “procedural delay”.

The show cause reportedly accuses her of indiscipline, anti-doping violations, misconduct during Olympic selection trials and of bringing ‘disrepute to the country’, a reference to her disqualification at the Paris Olympics for being 100 gm over the 50 kg limit before the final bout.

‘The Federation must satisfy itself that you have not committed an anti-doping rule violation that would render you ineligible to represent the federation in any forthcoming competition,’ the notice stated. Vinesh has till 22 May to respond.

The accusation has angered many in the sporting community, who view the Paris episode more as a tragedy than misconduct.

Several women wrestlers at Gonda felt the WFI was being unfair to Vinesh. Sangeeta Chikkara, a head constable posted in Meerut and gold medal winner at the World Police Games, recalled the two occasions she had fought Vinesh, and lost. She had learnt so much from her, she was looking forward to competing against her in Gonda. Twenty-year-old Shruti, bronze medallist at the Junior World Championship, also felt Vinesh should be given a chance.

Vinesh appealed for time to study the charges, consult her lawyers and submit further documents. Meanwhile, all she asked was to be allowed to participate. “I seek no special privilege, only an opportunity to train and compete,” she told the media, adding that she was not being allowed to use even the training facilities at Gonda.

Singh sanctimoniously said he had “personally guaranteed” that Vinesh would be perfectly safe, she was free to move around the complex but “rules are rules”.

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The entire incident has revived memories of the explosive wrestlers’ protest of 2023, when Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia led demonstrations at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against then WFI chief and BJP member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over allegations of sexual harassment.

The wrestlers were forcibly removed by the police. Distressing images of India’s champion athletes being manhandled and pushed into vans sparked outrage across the country.

The protest led to the stepping down of the BJP strongman from Gonda. Sanjay Singh, a close ally of Brij Bhushan, took his place as WFI president, ‘elected’ by 40 votes to just seven polled by a former woman wrestler. “Nothing has changed,” said Vinesh bitterly at Gonda, the same set of people were running the show.

In the ongoing row over her eligibility, Olympian bronze medallist Sakshi Malik came out in Vinesh’s support with a video appeal urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya and the Wrestling Federation to intervene.

In the video posted on social media, Malik said, “I can give many examples where sports federations of other countries make rules easier for their players so that even after becoming a mother, women can play for the country and win medals… Whereas our federation implements such rules two days before [the trials] so that Vinesh cannot make a comeback.”

“The fact that Vinesh wants to return after becoming a mother should be celebrated, not obstructed,” she added.

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The controversy has also drawn attention to new eligibility criteria issued by the WFI on 6 May for upcoming international trials. The revised rules specify that only medal winners from the Senior National Wrestling Championship (Ahmedabad, December 2025), the Senior Federation Cup (Ghaziabad, February 2026) and Under-20 National Championship (Bhilai, April 2026) would be eligible for trials. Bizarrely, the criteria also specifically mentioned that ‘past performance will not be considered’.

Critics argue that the timing and phrasing of the rules appear tailormade to exclude Vinesh.

By wilfully keeping Vinesh out, the WFI risks damaging both athlete morale and India’s medal prospects. Vinesh is not just another wrestler. A three-time Olympian, she competed in 17 championships between the Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020) Olympics, winning medals in 16 of them — nine golds, six silvers and a bronze medal. She battled a devastating knee injury post Rio and concussion and Covid-related setbacks after Tokyo. Following the heartbreak of Paris 2024, Vinesh wrote on X, ‘Wrestling won and I lost. My dreams are shattered’.

It’s worth noting that the tournament at Gonda was not even a selection trial. Vinesh possibly wanted to just test her stamina and fitness to see if she would still be able to compete in international tournaments.

Instead of supporting her bid to stage a comeback, the WFI seems determined to ensure she never does. That “the best, bravest and boldest athlete we have” — to quote sports writer Sharda Ugra — should be prevented from re-entering the arena on technical, bureaucratic and punitive objections is a loss not just for Vinesh Phogat, but for India, and the sport she remains committed to.