Time to move on, why to mourn past loss, says Vinesh Phogat

Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday said that she has learned her lesson from the 2020 Games and she does not have time to "mourn" her Tokyo loss.

"It was my second Olympics. In my first Olympics, I got injured (in 2016) and now I suffered defeat and I would accept that. I will work over the weaknesses before the upcoming competitions. At the senior level, we don't have enough time to grieve over a defeat, because the next Olympics is approaching and there are back-to-back competitions.

"As seniors, we'don't have much time to sit down to mourn a loss because there is more competition to be looked at. Staying on top is very challenging. It is not that difficult to reach the top but it is very difficult to maintain it," Vinesh told reporters during an event where Tata Motors and Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) announced an extension of their partnership till the 2024 Olympics.

The 26-year-old from Haryana further said she even learned from her juniors who were in Tokyo.


"Junior wrestlers also went with me in this Olympics, so I got to learn a lot from them too. We would like to qualify for the Olympics or any major tournament in the future and give our best. There are Olympics, world championships, and many more competitions, so it is our hope that we give our best performance," she added.

Earlier, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) ended Vinesh's temporary suspension for alleged indiscipline. The grappler is now eligible to compete at this year's World Championships after she was let off with a warning.

Like Vinesh, the other two Indian wrestlers, Sonam Malik and Divya Kakran have also been let off with a caution and will now be in contention for a place in the World Championships squad.-IANS