Wrestler Vinesh Phogat pulls out of Asian Games due to knee injury
Vinesh Phogat knee injury: India's ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was given an exemption from the Asian Games trials, on Tuesday announced that she has pulled out of the upcoming tournament in China's Hangzhou.
Vinesh took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to disclose that she will undergo knee surgery on August 17 in Mumbai.
"I wanted to share an extremely sad piece of news. A couple of days ago on 13th August 2023, injured my left knee in training. After doing the scans and examinations, the has said that unfortunately, surgery is the only option for me to recover," she wrote.
"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," the wrestler further said.
Vinesh also stated that she hopes to get back on the mat as soon as possible and resume preparing for the Paris Olympics in 2024.
"I would like to request all the fans to continue supporting me so that I can make a strong comeback to the mat soon and prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Your support gives me a lot of strength."
Vinesh withdrew from the Budapest Ranking Series 2023 last month, informing organizers as well as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) of her inability to compete due to "fever and food poisoning."
Antim Panghal, who was on standby for Vinesh, will now join India's wrestling contingent.
The ad hoc committee granted Vinesh and Bajrang an exemption from the Asian Games, Hangzhou, trials, which begin on September 23.
The Delhi High Court also dismissed petitions filed by wrestlers Antim Panghal and Sujeet Kalkal challenging the Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) ad-hoc exemption for direct entry into the Asian Games 2023.
- With inputs from agencies
