Ink And Insights

Imagine a world where the difference between glory and defeat is about the weight of a bar of soap. Now, imagine that world is the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the protagonist is none other than Vinesh Phogat, India’s wrestling champion. This isn’t a fictional plot; it’s the story of a woman who had to battle not only her opponents but also the weighing scales, and in a cruel twist of fate, lost to the latter. She had already conquered World No. 1 Yui Susaki in a nail-biting bout, marking a historic moment as the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic wrestling final. You could almost hear the collective cheer of a billion voices back home, fueled by the hope that a gold medal was definitely coming. But then, like a Shakespearean tragedy, came the twist—Vinesh was disqualified for weighing in 100 grams over the limit on the day of the final. Let’s put this into perspective. One hundred grams is about the weight of a bar of soap or two eggs. That’s all it took to shatter her Olympic dream.