India's Vinesh Phogat.
Credit: Reuters Photo
BJP MP from Mandi and Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut took to Instagram on Tuesday to make her thoughts known on wrestler Vinesh Phogat's qualification to the finals of wrestling at the Olympic Games on Tuesday.
Ranaut posted a picture of Phogat holding the tricolor and wrote, "Fingers crossed for India's first Gold Medal. Vinesh Phogat at one point took part in protests where she raised the slogan of 'Modi teri Kabr khudegi' (sic)."
Credit: Instagram/kanaganranaut
The actress further wrote, "Yet she was given the opportunity to represent the nation and best of the training, coaches and facilities. Beauty of democracy and a great leader."
Phogat, along with wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik were involved in the wrestlers' protests against BJP PM and former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. They had accused him of molesting female wrestlers, charges that Singh has denied.
The Modi government chose not to give Singh a ticket for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but to keep the influential leader happy, his son Karan Bhushan Singh was fielded from the Kaiserganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Phogat became the first Indian woman wrestler (50kg) to reach the final of the Olympic Games with a convincing 5-0 win over Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez on Tuesday.
With this win in the semifinal, Vinesh guaranteed herself at least a silver medal.
Both wrestlers got off to a cautious start but a passivity clock on Lopez meant that Vinesh got on the board with one technical point after the Cuban didn't take a risk.
Vinesh was leading 1-0 at the end of the first period. She extended her dominance in the second period with four more points to seal the bout in her favour.
Earlier, Vinesh entered the semifinals on the back of two incredible wins, against reigning Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan and Ukraine's eighth seed Oksana Livach.
The 29-year-old Vinesh had defeated Livach 7-5 in a hard-fought bout to get closer to an elusive Olympic medal in her third attempt.
Trailing 0-2 after conceding penalty points for passivity, the Indian wrestler came back brilliantly in the last five seconds to take down the top seed by clinching three points to win 3-2.
With PTI inputs