3 min readGondaUpdated: May 11, 2026 01:23 PM IST
Two days after the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) issued a show-cause notice to wrestler Vinesh Phogat levelling charges of anti-doping rule violations and disciplinary breaches, barring her from competition till June 26, she reached Gonda for the National Open Ranking tournament, an event for which she had registered before the April-end deadline.
Vinesh, making a comeback after giving birth to a son in July, was aiming to qualify for the Asian Games trials to be held on May 30 in Delhi, but winners at the tournament in Gonda are not eligible for selection, as per WFI’s selection policy.
“Vinesh reached Gonda on Monday, a day before the women’s freestyle competition. She has registered for the tournament and is hoping the WFI allows her to participate,” a source close to the wrestler told The Indian Express. Verification for women’s freestyle will take place between 5 pm and 7 pm on Monday while the weigh-in is from 7 am on Tuesday.
Gonda is the home turf of former BJP Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment by six women wrestlers in 2023. On May 3, Vinesh had said that she was one of the complainants.
On Saturday, in a 14-page show-cause notice issued to Vinesh, the WFI said that she had failed to fulfil the mandatory six-month notice period applicable to a wrestler who wants to make a return to competition after retirement. The WFI wrote in the notice that Vinesh, in a letter to United World Wrestling (UWW) in December 2024, had said that she would be on a sabbatical till August 2025. She missed a dope test on December 18, days after informing the WFI, UWW and the Sports Authority of India that she was resuming training, it added.
Vinesh was also in violation of UWW competition rules after participating in two weight categories in the Asian and World Olympics Qualifier trials held by the ad-hoc committee in March 2024 when the WFI was suspended, the show-cause notice claimed.
Vinesh not making the weight on the morning of the 50 kg final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, had ‘resulted in the loss of an Olympic medal for India’ and ‘damage to the reputation of Indian wrestling’, it went on.
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Vinesh has been given 14 days to reply to the notice. Vinesh has not commented on the issue till now.
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