Vinesh Phogat manages to register for National Ranking tournament after flagging WFI attempt to block her entry
(Reuters Photo)Decorated Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat,. who reached the finals of Paris Olympics beating Sui Susaki but couldn’t make weight, had reversed her retirement, and was ready to return to the mat. The hurdles soon showed up. After flagging the Wrestling Federation of India’s attempt to block her from competing, she confirmed on Tuesday that her registration for her comeback tournament was finally done.Gonda will host next month’s National Ranking Series from May 10-12, but Vinesh had claimed that she was being blocked from competing by the WFI, after the acceptance of her entry was delayed. “My registration to participate in the upcoming ranking tournament was done this morning,” she tweeted on Tuesday. “I could not complete the registration yesterday as the link was closed. Thank you for the support from everyone. I am looking forward to competing in my first competition after 20 months,” Vinesh added. The confusion was caused by WFI, who insisted that technical issues with the registration portal might have initially prevented Vinesh and many wrestlers from completing the process. The three-time World Championships medallist, however, said she could submit her entry only after the link became accessible on Tuesday. The WFI maintained that her registration was processed and completed earlier, but a viral screenshot circulating on social media proved that it was a late-night entry on the portal, as shown by the 10:27pm Monday night timestamp, the same day as she raised her complaint of being blocked. Vinesh had said she had been hoping to make a comeback at the National Open Ranking Tournament, the registration for which was open till April 30. However, when she had tried to register, the portal said it was closed. She had also reached out to WFI officials but did not get a response. “I have been trying to contact the administrative staff of the federation, but they haven’t responded to my calls,” she had said.Story continues below this ad After returning from Paris, where she gave it her all but was found 100 gms over 50 kg, the wrestler had opted to retire. She became a mother in the interim before returning to wrestling, this time set to compete in the 57kg category at the National Open Ranking event in Gonda. Gonda is the constituency of former MP Brijbhushan Singh, who is accused of sexual harassment by wrestlers. This will be a bold attempt to return to a sport in a tougher category, though the Asian Games might be a goal soon, too.
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