Wrestler Vinesh Phogat gives birth to baby boy

Indian Express

5 days ago

Former World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat gave birth to a boy at a private hospital in Delhi on Tuesday morning. He is the first child of the 30-year-old Julana MLA and wrestler Somvir Rathee.
'Vinesh gave birth to a baby boy this morning at a private hospital in Delhi. Both Vinesh and the baby are fine. It's the biggest joy for the whole family,' Harvinder Phogat, Vinesh's elder brother, told The Indian Express.
Vinesh had announced her pregnancy in March on her social media accounts.
'Our love story continues with a new chapter,' she had posted along with emojis of a foot and a heart, suggesting that the couple was expecting a child.
Harvinder added that the mother and child will be back at Somvir's home soon.
'Vinesh will be back home in a couple of days and we all will visit her after that. The whole of Balali is waiting to welcome Vinesh and her son,' he added.
Vinesh, who was disqualified for exceeding the weight limit just hours before contesting the women's 50kg freestyle wrestling final at last year's Paris Olympics, had announced her retirement from the sport soon after the setback, but kept her options open about returning to the mat.
'I just want to say that missing the Olympic medal is the biggest wound in my life. I don't know how much time it would have taken to heal this wound. But as I got love from my fellow Indians, my village and my family members, I guess I would get some courage to make this wound heal. Maybe, I could return to wrestling. I don't know if I would pursue wrestling or not but the kind of courage I got today, I want to use that in the right direction. Our fight has not ended and the fight will continue and I pray to god that the truth will prevail,' Phogat had said while addressing villagers at the village Balali on her return post the Olympics.
In September last year, she joined the Indian National Congress and later contested from the Julana constituency in the Haryana Assembly elections, defeating BJP's Yogesh Kumar by 6,015 votes. Haryana congress leader Kumari Selja too congratulated the Julana MLA. 'Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Congress MLA from Julana, Mrs. @Phogat_Vinesh ji on the birth of a son. I pray to God that the newborn baby brings joy and prosperity to the family and that both of you remain healthy and happy.' Selja posted on X.
Vinesh was also the face of the protests against then Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment of women wrestlers.
Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story 'Harmans of Moga', Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women's cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.
An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin's interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More