Wrestler Vinesh Phogat wins Haryana assembly elections

Star Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat triumphed in her first bout outside of the wrestling mat after winning the Haryana assembly elections from the Julana constituency on Tuesday.

The 29-year-old wrestler defeated Yogesh Kumar of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) by 6,015 votes. 

Vinesh, who joined the Indian National Congress after retiring from the sport of wrestling, got the better of Yogesh and sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Amarjeet Dhandha of Jannayak Janta Party.

Vinesh garnered a total of 65,080 votes while her nearest rival Yogesh garnered 59,065 votes. 

When the counting started, Vinesh led with 200 votes after the first round but Yogesh took the lead in the second round. He extended to more than 3,000 votes in the fourth round. 

However, Vinesh started to close the gap after the sixth round and overtook Yogesh by 38 votes in the seventh round. After the seventh round, she continued her lead till the end of the counting and won the elections by a total of 6,015 votes.

One of the most controversial sports persons in the past 18 months, Vinesh led the sexual harassment protest against former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh in May 2023 along with Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik.

Following the protests, Vinesh returned to mat and managed to book her place in the 2024 Paris Olympics after winning the Asian qualifiers.

Earlier last month, Vinesh announced her retirement from the sport of wrestling after coming back from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Vinesh lost out on a sure shot medal at the Olympics after failing to make it to the weight cut on the second day of the competition.

Competing in the women's 50kg category, Vinesh had reached the final and was scheduled to face Sarah Hildebrandt of the USA in the final before the weight-cut mishap.