With Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat unceremoniously missing out on a potential top prize in the Paris 2024 Olympics, she was honoured with gold on her birthday (August 25) by the Sarvkhap Panchayat. Stunningly, Phogat's Wikipedia page has claimed that the 30-year-old is the only athlete in the world to win gold from Khap Panchayats.
The Haryana-born wrestler faced the agony of being disqualified from the multi-nation event's gold medal bout of the 50 KG wrestling category. With Phogat weighing a few 100 gms above the permissible weight, the International Olympic Committee announced that she has been disqualified. Phogat had appealed against the decision to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), but they rejected her request for a joint-silver medal.
Meanwhile, this is what the Wikipedia page claims:
Vinesh Phogat says people sentiments mean much more to her than the Olympic gold:
The Haryana-born athlete was inevitably despondent after missing out on the dream, but the fans gave her a grand reception in Delhi. Phogat said:
"Unhone gold medal nahin diya toh kiya hua, hamaare apnon ne humein gold se bhi upar nawaaza hai. Toh yeh gold, yeh izzat, yeh maan-samman, hazaaron gold medal ke aagey feenke hain."
(So what if I didn't get the gold medal, our people has treated me nothing less. The respect they are giving me, it's nothing in front of any gold medal."
