Vinesh Phogat

Vinesh Phogat (born 25 August 1994) is an Indian wrestler.

She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games.

She is the only Indian woman wrestler to win multiple medals at the World Wrestling Championships.

The couple have known each other since 2011 and both work for the Indian Railways where they met and fell in love.

She suffered a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament tear in her knees at the Rio Olympics.

In 2013 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi, India, Vinesh won the bronze medal in the women's freestyle 52 kg category, winning 3:0 in the bronze medal bout through the repechage round to Tho-Kaew Sriprapa of Thailand.

In the first round, Vinesh won 3:1 against Nanami Irie of Japan.

She then lost 1:3 in the quarter-finals to Tatyana Amanzhol of Kazakhstan who qualified for the final thus qualifying the Indian grappler for the repechage round.

In an exclusive tournament held in Johannesburg, South Africa, Vinesh finished second and won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 51 kg category, losing in the final round to Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria.

Vinesh represented India in the women's freestyle 48 kg category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and won the gold medal.

In the quarter-finals, Vinesh faced Rosemary Nweke of Nigeria and beat her 5–0.

Her semi-finals opponent was Jasmine Mian of Canada whom she beat 4–1.

In the gold medal bout, she faced home favourite Yana Rattigan of England and won the gold medal, beating her 3–1.

At the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, Vinesh won a bronze medal in the women's freestyle 48 kg category.

In the Round of 16, Vinesh faced Yongmi Pak from the People's Republic of Korea and beat her 3:1.

Her quarter-finals opponent was Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova of Uzbekistan whom she overcame easily with a 5:0 scoreline.

She lost 1:3 in the semi-finals to Eri Tosaka of Japan but qualified for the bronze medal bout and beat Narangerel Eredenesukh of Mongolia to win 10-0 easily after referee stopped the bout (classification points 4:0).

At the 2015 Asian Championships in Doha, Phogat won the silver medal in her category after losing the final to Yuki Irie of Japan.

Her cousin, Ritu Phogat, is also an international level wrestler and won a gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championship.

In the qualifying tournament for the 2016 Rio Olympics held in Istanbul, she won in the final round beating Polish wrestler Iwona Matkowska, and qualified for the Olympics in the process.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, Vinesh reached the Quarter Finals and lost to Sun Yanan of China owing to a knee injury.

On 13 December 2018, she married her long-time boyfriend and fellow wrestler Somvir Rathee of Bakhta Khera village of Jind district, who is a two time gold medalist at the national championships.

She bagged a Gold at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games in 2018 in the 50 kg category.

In the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series in Rome, the 26 year old defeated Canada's Diana Mary Helen Weicker 4–0 in the 53 kg final.

Vinesh Phogat won the gold medal in women's 50 kg freestyle wrestling at 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Vinesh Phogat won the gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games and became first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold at the Asian Games.

Phogat beat Japan's Yuki Irie in the Women's 50 kg Freestyle Wrestling gold medal match 6–2.

Phogat became the first Indian athlete to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019.

Phogat comes from a successful family of wrestlers.

Her cousins have been international wrestlers and Commonwealth Games medalists as well.

She was one of the leaders of the 2023 Indian wrestlers' protest against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh which was held in two phases, one in January 2023 and the second in April 2023.

Vinesh is the daughter of wrestler Rajpal Phogat and cousin of wrestlers Geeta and Babita.

Both her cousins have won a gold in the 55 kg category at the Commonwealth Games.

By allowing her cousins and her to pursue competitive wrestling, her father and uncle had to deal with immense pressure and opposition from the community in their village in Haryana.

They were judged to be going against the morals and values of their community.

In world championship 2019, she bagged her maiden world championship medal (a bronze).

Vinesh won the bronze medal in 2019 Asian Wrestling Championships by defeating the World Championships bronze medallist Qianyu Pang of China.

Phogat won a gold medal at the 2019 Yasar Dogu International by defeating Ekaterina Poleshchuk of Russia.

Vinesh Phogat bagged her third consecutive gold in the women's 53 kg category after winning the Poland Open wrestling tournament in Warsaw.

Vinesh Phogat bagged a maiden World Championship medal in the women's 53 kg category after pinning Maria Prevolaraki in the Bronze medal match.