Federation Cup Trials Eligibility Norms Unfair: Congress MLA & Olympian Vinesh Phogat
Congress MLA and Olympian Vinesh Phogat has criticised the eligibility norms for Federation Cup trials, calling them unfair to national medalists and injured players. She questioned the exclusion of 2024 nationals performers, warning the rules could derail promising wrestlers’ careers ahead of major international events.
Vinesh Phogat | ANI
Chandigarh: Questioning the eligibility norms for Federation Cup trials, international wrestler-turned politician Vinesh Phogat, who is Congress MLA from Julana constituency in Haryana’s Jind district, has termed them unfair.
Vinesh, a three-time Olympian, who has won gold medals at both the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, had announced her retirement from wrestling following her disqualification from the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal bout for being overweight. Though she moved the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS) against her disqualification, she did not get a favourable judgement. However, she reversed her decision to retire, and announced in December last year that she would return to the mat to take another shot at an elusive Olympic medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
As per the eligibility norms for the said trials starting Friday, only Haryana domicile grapplers who either won medals at the 2025 senior state championship or represented Indian in the international wrestling events will be eligible; the Federation Cup will be held from February 12 to February 14 at Ghaziabad.
Terming the norms as unfair, Vinesh asked in post on X whether 2024 national medalists have been held ineligible, whether medals won at the sub-junior national level have lost their values and whether injured players are being treated like offenders.
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Stating that major tournaments including Asian Games and World Championships are scheduled to take place in 2026, the star wrestler Vinesh held that playing in these tournaments and winning medals is every player’s dream while these norms halted promising players’ future.
However, according to media reports, the Wrestling Association Haryana has rubbished Vinesh’s allegations stating that Haryana was the only state in the country which was conducting trials for the tournament for the past two years unlike other states which selected players on the basis of their past performances.
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