Vinesh Phogat has responded to the allegations made by the Wrestling Federation of Indian (WFI) on three separate counts. The wrestler has disagreed on two counts while agreeing to not wearing the official singlet/jersey that was provided by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was a mistake.
The response to the federation from Vinesh Phogat’s lawyer stated that “At the outset, the Athlete would like to state that she is distraught upon receiving the said Notice, especially immediately after the Tokyo Olympics 2020.”
“While the Athlete deeply regrets not winning a medal, the Athlete believes she has been wrongfully accused of misconduct and indiscipline at the Tokyo Olympic Games Village. The Athlete respectfully refutes the allegations specified under the said Notice,” added her lawyer speaking to Indian Express.
Vinesh Phogat received a notice on the account of three separate counts at the Tokyo Olympics that led the WFI to suspend her immediately. The first being that the wrestler did not stay in a room with her teammates at the Games village. Her lawyer responded to this by saying “The Athlete completely disagrees with the above-stated complaint & refutes the allegation in its entirety.”
The second count was based on her decision to not train with the other wrestlers of the Indian contingent at Tokyo. Her lawyer responded by saying “It is humbly submitted that the allegation of refusal to train with the other athletes of the Indian wrestling contingent are false & denied.”
The final count on which Vinesh was charged was for her decision to wear a Nike singlet/jersey and not the one provided by the official kit supplier of Team India. Her lawyer responded by saying “The athlete hereby acknowledges the regretful error of not wearing the official Indian Olympic jersey/singlet as provided by IOA and the said error by the Athlete is solely attributable to the unintentional & incorrect planning by the Athlete.”
Vinesh had stated that her Indian jersey was worn by her during training and was not washed for the day of the bout and accepting 1 out of her 3 counts by the WFI. She added to say that due to the circumstances the error she made was by no means intentional.
