Don't have strength for more: Vinesh bids adieu to wrestling
Paris (PTI): Her long-cherished Olympic dream shattered by a cruel twist of fate, Vinesh Phogat on Thursday bid adieu to her international wrestling career, saying she doesn't have the strength to continue anymore.
The 29-year-old, who was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout in the olympics on Wednesday, announced her decision on social media, seeking forgiveness from everyone who supported her.
Addressing her mother Premlata, Vinesh wrote, "Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken."
"I don't have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me)," added the two-time world championships bronze-medallist.
Her stunning decision comes a day after Vinesh appealed against her disqualification from the Olympic finals on Wednesday in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal.
An ad-hoc division of the CAS, which has been set up here for resolution of any disputes arising during the Olympic Games or during a period of 10 days preceding the Opening Ceremony, will take up her appeal in the next few hours.
She spent a good part of the day at a polyclinic inside the Games village owing to severe dehydration caused by her desperate measures to make the cut, which included going hungry, avoiding fluids and staying up all night to sweat it out.
Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinals, replaced her in the final against American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.
Hildebrandt won the bout to claim gold and Vinesh is now banking on CAS to be a joint silver-medallist with Lopez.
However, the sport's international governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW) has made it clear on its part that the current weigh-in rule will not be changed as of now.
"On IOA’s suggestion that a wrestler's results from the day on which the athlete met the weigh-in requirements should not be disqualified, the UWW President was sympathetic.
"UWW will also discuss the suggestion at an appropriate platform but it could not be done retrospectively," the world body said in a statement late on Wednesday after its President Nenad Lalovic met IOA chief P T Usha.
Vinesh had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout in her category on Tuesday night.
She was assured of at least a silver medal before the disqualification.
Vinesh is a three-time Olympian and has won gold medals in both the Asian and Commonwealth Games.
For the past one year, she had also been the face of fierce protests against former Wrestling Federation of India head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who has been accused of sexual harassment by women grapplers.
Vinesh, who has always competed in the 53kg category, was forced to come down to 50kg just months before the Games after the Paris quota place in that division was locked by Antim Panghal.
Panghal lost in the opening round itself and is facing deportation after trying to facilitate her sister Nisha's access to the Games Village on her accreditation card.
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The Verdict [Misleading]
The viral video shows a January 2025 bus explosion in Turbat, Balochistan, reportedly claimed by the BLA, not a convoy attack in Noshki.
What is the claim?
A video resembling CCTV footage of a vehicle exploding in the middle of a road is being shared online with the claim that it shows the explosion that killed 90 Pakistani soldiers in Noshki (also spelled Nushki), in Balochistan province, Pakistan.
An X user shared the viral clip with a caption in Hindi, which translates to: “The Balochistan Liberation Army has become so powerful that it is inflicting major blows on the Pakistani military almost every day. Today, it bombed a bus carrying Pakistani soldiers, sending 90 Pakistani soldiers to meet their ‘hoors’ (beautiful women in paradise).” Archived versions of similar posts can be found here and here.
Indian media outlets, including Zee News, Republic Bharat, Times Now, and Dainik Jagran, also published the viral video, claiming it shows the attack on Pakistani soldiers.
Screenshot of the social media posts circulating online. (Source: X/media outlets/ Modified by Logically Facts)
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on March 16, 2025, released a video showing an attack on a Pakistani military convoy on a highway in Noshki, Balochistan. While the BLA claimed 90 soldiers were killed, Pakistani authorities reported that only five people died. The attack came just days after the BLA hijacked a passenger train on March 11, 2025, in an incident that reportedly killed more than 20 passengers.
However, the viral video in question is not from this convoy attack. It dates back to January 2025 and shows a bus explosion in Turbat, also in Balochistan province, for which the BLA had reportedly claimed responsibility.
What did we find?
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video revealed that it dates back to January 2025. We found the same footage shared by PM News, a media outlet based in Lakki Marwat in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Facebook on January 5, 2025 (archived here). The caption in Urdu translates to: “Balochistan: Explosion near pilgrims' bus in Turbat, 4 killed, 32 injured. Security sources.”
Khyber News, a Pakistani news channel, also shared screenshots matching the visuals in the viral video in its Jan. 4, 2025, report. Khyber News stated that the footage is CCTV footage of a bus explosion in Turbat on Jan. 4, 2025, which killed five people and injured more than 30. Geo TV also published visuals of the explosion in its coverage of the incident.
A comparison of the viral video and the screenshot published by Geo TV on the January 2025 blast. (Source: X/Geo TV/Screenshot)
According to a report by Dawn, the bus exploded en route from Karachi to Turbat in the New Bahman area. Quetta Senior Superintendent of Police Serious Crime Wing, Zuhaib Muhsin, and his family, who were passing by when the explosion occurred, were among those injured. The report added that the Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
Other media outlets, including Samaa TV and The Express Tribune, also reported on the bus explosion. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti condemned the attack and offered their condolences.
The verdict
A video from January 2025 showing a bus explosion in Turbat, Balochistan, was misrepresented as footage of an attack by the Balochistan Liberation Army on a Pakistani military convoy in Noshki.
(This story was originally published by logicallyfacts.com, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
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