“My trial cancelled at last moment, so I couldn’t go to Olympics”: Wrestler Shivani Pawar, who gave close fight to Vinesh Phogat

Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], August 10 (ANI): A 25-year-old wrestler from Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district, Shivani Pawar has said that her trials for the Paris Olympics were cancelled at the last moment as a result of which she could not make it to the games.

She also said that if the trials were conducted, then the result would have been different today. She felt sad that she did not get that chance.

“I had a dream to go to the Paris Olympics for a long time and I was preparing for it for the last four years. But due to the change in rules, our trials could not take place. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had given in writing that trials will be conducted for those who were runners up or for the issues of wrong points in the qualification trials. But two days before the trials, it was cancelled, and said that only those who qualified will go, it was very sad for me. That is why I could not go to the Olympics,” Pawar told ANI.

She further recalled that she had a very close bout with wrestler Vinesh Phogat and due to wrong decisions of the match referee, Phogat was declared winner of the match.

“Vinesh and I had a very close bout, I was leading in that too but due to wrong points and wrong decision of the referee, our bout went a little wrong and Vinesh was declared the winner at the end. After that I complained about the wrong decision along with the video, but nothing came out of it,” she said.

According to the rules, one wrestler can fight in only one category, but Vinesh Phogat was made to fight in both 50 kg and 53 kg category, so it was itself a biggest rule break at that time, Pawar added.

“We complained that first Vinesh was allowed to fight in two categories and was given a recovery break of four-five hours and there were issues in the points during the bout. At least I should have got a chance for a trial, I deserved it and I am sad that I did not get that chance. If there were trials, the result would have been different today. We complained about the issue to the IOA and the federation but nothing happened to it,” the wrestler said.

Giving further details about her wrestling career, Pawar said that she started wrestling in 2014 and won various medals so far.

“I started wrestling in 2014 and now have been wrestling for a decade. I am a national champion four times in a row and have won gold medals twice in the national games. I have a silver medal in the Under 23 World Wrestling Championship and recently, I won a bronze medal at the Senior Asian Championship 2024,” she said.

“Now I am preparing for the World Wrestling Championship 2025, 2026 Asian Games and Las Vegas Olympics 2028,” Pawar said.

Additionally, she added that her younger sister Sonu Pawar was also preparing for wrestling with her and probably she too would perform well in the coming times.