National Embarrassment

WFI’s more interested in vendetta than sport, so Vinesh Phogat has to keep fighting off the mat

Ideally, each of India’s 60-odd sport federations should be a genuine custodian of its respective sport. But if this was so, so many athletes wouldn’t be knocking on courts’ doors, against their federations. On Friday, Delhi HC ruled that Vinesh Phogat’s challenge to WFI, to be allowed to compete in the Asian Games 2026 selection trials, was “in the interest of sport and justice”. What’s troubling is, why would a sport federation serve any other interest? 

Vinesh’s case is both unique and representative. She’s the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Asian Games gold, she’s also got three Commonwealth Games golds, and she’s competed in three Olympics. But her most gruelling contest has been off the mat. When she joined the 2023 wrestlers’ protest, accusing Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment, he was a BJP MP, a powerful federation chief, and running WFI out of his home. While that case is still in court, his parliamentary seat has passed to his son, the federation’s now headed by his close associate, and, after a brief parting, the WFI office has reportedly returned to his home.  

So, Vinesh’s fight biography is singular, but her subjugation isn’t. The “mala fide” vindictiveness Delhi HC found in WFI’s actions against her, can’t be separated from her complaint of sexual harassment. The show-cause notice that weaponised her motherhood against her also fits a familiar pattern – federations hiding arbitrary decisions behind opaque criteria. But the most nakedly mala fide detail was this: WFI described her Paris disqualification as a “national embarrassment”. This was the first Indian woman wrestler to fight her way to an Olympic final, where she was gut-wrenchingly found 100g over the weight limit. While the international wrestling community rallied around her, her own federation’s chosen to vilify her. This single act reveals everything about WFI’s motivations. And until such petty, vindictive cliquedoms run Indian sport, excellence will remain out of reach.