Prize money from the entire village, 750kg of ladoos: Vinesh feted at home

Vinesh Phogat was received with open arms in her village of Balali in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district, even though it took her more than 12 hours to reach there from the Delhi airport.

The 29-year-old’s extraordinary run on the first day of her bouts in women’s 50kg wrestling and her even more stunning disqualification from the gold medal bout the next day ended up becoming the biggest story of the 2024 Paris Olympics for India.

According to the Indian Express, the village came together and crowdfunded a prize money for Vinesh. Contributions came in all monetary sizes, including ₹100 by the village watchman and going up to ₹21,000 by members of the Fauji Bhaichara group.

The donations reportedly came deep into the night. Village Sarpanch Reetika Sangwan couldn’t make it to Vinesh’s felicitation and she asked her husband to represent her. Among his assignments was to bring Vinesh’s blessings homes along with a cloth touched by the three-time Commonwealth Games and 2018 Asian Games gold medallist. “She has told me to bring Vinesh’s blessings as well as a cloth touched by her. I will make my newborn boy wear it so that he gets the same courage as her,” he is quoted as saying in the report.

‘Worth more than 1000 Gold medals’
Vinesh received a warm welcome on Saturday when she returned home in New Delhi at around 10am. Thousands of supporters gathered outside the IGI Airport and among those present to receive her in her vehicle were fellow wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik along with panchayat leaders.

Vinesh broke down in tears as she was garlanded at the airport with fans chanting her name. She then stood in an open Jeep that made its way through the national capital amid thick security in her native town. A group of 50 supporters followed her jeep. They offered prayers at a temple in Delhi’s Dwarka before continuing their journey towards Balali.

Upon reaching her hometown, an overwhelmed Vinesh thanked her supporters. She said: “Although they didn’t give me the Gold medal, people here have given me that. The love and the respect that I have received is more than 1,000 Gold medals.”

On August 6, Vinesh became the first Indian woman wrestler to make an Olympic final. However, before the women’s 50kg freestyle wrestling final the following day, Vinesh was disqualified during the morning weigh-in as she was overweight by 100 grams and subsequently denied a medal. The heartbroken 29-year-old announced her retirement, but later sought to challenge the decision as he appealed against the United World Wrestling (UWW) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for a joint silver medal. The application was dismissed on Wednesday in a decision by the Sole Arbitrator at the court.