Vinesh Phogat’s battle at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships wasn’t limited with her opponents. To the outside world, she may have created history by becoming the first ever Indian female wrestler to win more than one medal via repechage at the worlds but her struggle ran deeper.
She was battling her opponents on the mat and her body on and off it. As luck would have it, right before the marquee event, Vinesh Phogat got her periods and was in excruciating pain even before reaching Belgrade, the venue of the event.
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And what added to her challenges was the fact that Vinesh was dehydrating and starving herself in order to cut down on her weight. The deadly cocktail resulted in her being blanked 0-7 by Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) in the opening bout of 53kg event.
Then luck finally sided with her as Batkhuyag made it to the final and thus allowing Vinesh to compete for the bronze through repechage.
“I don’t know if I’m lucky to get the repechage chance, or an unlucky person to get my periods right before the tournament while I was cutting weight (little food and water)," the 28-year-old was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
“Kabhi kabhi lagtaa hai, ladka hoti toh achha hota (Sometimes, I feel it would have been better if I was a boy)," she quipped and added, “I tried period-stopping tablets for the first time, but it happened at Dubai, and I thought all the hard work of the past 10 months is gone."
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Vinesh touched upon the challenge that every female athlete has to face because of menstruation.
“I left everything on the mat, didn’t hold back, but sometimes the body just gives up. It happens to all women athletes. Koi koi bolta nahi, koi survive kar jaate hai (some don’t mention, some survive)," she said.
With her hopes of a medal reignited, Vinesh first beat Zhuldyz Eshimova (Kazakhstan) in a Victory by Fall (4-0) decision and then got a walkover after her opponent Leyla Gurbanova (Azerbaijan) did not turn up due to an injury which took her to the bronze medal round.
But her problems didn’t end there. During her bronze medal bout against Emma Jonna Malmgren (Sweden), her knee cap gave away but she battled through the pain for a stunning 8-0 win.
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