Paris Olympics: Is WFI chief’s tirade against Vinesh’s support staff a proxy war?

Was the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) waiting for Vinesh Phogat to fail in the Paris Olympics? The scathing interview of federation chief Sanjay Singh, who questioned the role of her long-standing, Hungarian personal coach Woller Akos and support staff after the dramatic disqualification of the wrestler on Wednesday, 7 August, makes one think again.

“The player (Vinesh) is fully concentrated on her practice which is why it would be unfair to blame her for this. Why is the support staff sent with the athlete, and the government sends them along with the player, ‘Wo sab wahan tafri karne gaye hai kya (have they gone there for tourism)?' Sanjay, known to be a close aide of the tainted Brij Bhushan Singh, said in a number of interviews to Indian media outlets.

‘’An athlete who has won three of her bouts has to concentrate on her game, the staff is supposed to keep all other details in check,” Sanjay said on Wednesday. Quite legitimate anger from the federation chief, one would feel, especially after the fiasco robbed India of a potential first women’s gold medal in wrestling.

P.T. Usha, the legendary athlete and now Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president, also laid the blame on the doorstep of Vinesh’s support staff for failing to remove the ifs and buts in her weight management – especially since the Olympic programme of wrestling is tightly packed inside three days. Hungarian Arkos, whose presence as Vinesh’s personal coach had never met approval from the Brij Bhushan regime, sports scientist Wayne Lombard and physio Ashwini are the key members of the wrestler’s personal staff.

Despite being under the required weight limit on Tuesday, Vinesh was needed to replenish after her three exerting bouts which saw her go above the weight limit. She spent the night trying to reduce weight to below the 50 kg mark and was seen skipping, cycling and jogging in her best effort to make it but eventually could not meet the target.

“When we return from Paris, the entire WFI community will try their best to implement the rule that only the nutritionists and physios eligible through our courses will be sent with the team and no others will be entertained,” the supremo added.

Fair enough, but then how does one explain the ordeal of young Antim Panghal, who crashed to a humiliating 10-0 defeat at the hands of her Turkish opponent, Yetgil Zeynep in the women’s 53 kg category? Antim, who was one of the first to gain an Olympic quota in the category earlier owned by Vinesh, was outclassed in 101 seconds in the first round.

Coached by India’s Vikas, the buzz in Paris was that Antim barely managed to pass the muster in the weigh-in but in trying to do so, she was starving for 48 hours and had no energy left when she entered the mat. Anyone who has starved for 48 hours without food and water would have suffered the same fate, raising questions about how well the wrestlers have been handled in Paris.

This is where Sanjay’s tirade against Vinesh’s support staff (read: Akos) smacks of proving a point in their shadow war against the wrestler for a number of years now. In Tokyo 2020, Akos was at the centre of controversy after the wrestler's disappointing performance at the Tokyo Olympics. Brij Bhushan, the then WFI president, blamed Akos' training methods for the unexpected failure.

Brij Bhushan alleged that Akos prioritised training his wife, wrestler Marianna Sastin, over Vinesh during their training camp in Hungary and claimed that the coach’s focus was divided - which impacted Vinesh’s performance. However, Phogat managed to put any such theory in the shade when she became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Games till the weighty controversy emerged.

Speaking to India Today, the current WFI president had no qualms about admitting that he was not on ‘talking terms’ with Vinesh and offered to show his ticket to confirm that he was physically present at Vinesh’s fights. Well, such an air of mistrust can be hardly conducive for the beleaguered sport to produce the best results.  

The debate about Vinesh’s training regimen had often sparked controversy and raised questions about the involvement of foreign coaches in Indian sport – but then Indian sport is no longer in a position to do without them. From Neeraj Chopra, men’s hockey team or P.V. Sindhu - there has always been a foreign hand in recent years.  

Let’s have a thorough probe on what went wrong in the Indian camp on Tuesday night after Vinesh’s three wins, but one also has to talk about Antim’s travails. Is the WFI trying to pass the buck somewhere down the line?