'Felt like she was hiding her pain with that smile... they snatched it from her': PR Sreejesh recalls meeting Vinesh Phogat before bronze medal match

On August 13, the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) pushed the date of verdict on wrestler Vinesh Phogat's silver medal appeal at the Paris Olympics 2024. Vinesh and her fans all around the country will have to wait till August 16 to know whether she gets her maiden Olympic medal or not. Ahead of the verdict, legendary India men's hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has said that she deserves to win the medal which was snatched from her.
 

"There are two views, one being an athlete she deserves a medal, getting into the final, they snatched it from her, silver for sure. She was strong. If I was in her situation, I don't what I would have done," Sreejesh said at an interaction with PTI editors at its headquarters in New Delhi.
 

Sreejesh recalled meeting a dejected Vinesh who was disqualified from the historic gold medal bout for being 100 grams overweight at the weigh-in. The 36-year-old felt the pain behind her smile when she wished him good luck for the bronze medal match against Spain.
 

"The next day before our bronze medal match I met her and she said 'Bhai good luck, play well'. I felt like she was hiding her pain with that smile. She is a real fighter," the goalkeeper who won back-to-back Olympic bronze medals said. 
 

Tough lesson for young Indian athletes

While Sreejesh sympathises with Vinesh, he also wants young athletes to take a lesson from the incident.
 

"The second part is just different because you have Olympic rules and the Indian athletes know what is happening there and they should be ready for that. They shouldn't give any chance to the federation, to the organising committee, to the International Olympic Committee (OC).
 

"So it should be a lesson for everyone. When you are prepared for that you have to be strict with rules and regulations," he said.

 

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To prove his point, he explained it with the example of their key defender Amit Rohidas who was shown the red card in the quarter-final against Great Britain which left India with 10 men for 42 minutes. He was banned from the semifinal match against Germany as well.
 

"Amit Rohidas in the quarterfinal is a case. The rule states that you can't raise your stick to the backward direction, you can't lift it that way because intentionally you are hitting someone and it's a red card and what happened to us we played the semifinal with 15 players and we suffered." 

 

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"So the rules are made to make the game beautiful, controlled."
 

Sreejesh hopes Vinesh gets her due

Sreejesh is eagerly waiting for the verdict and hopes that CAS rules in her favour.
 

"I am keeping my fingers crossed. Being an athlete, I just wish well for her. The way she worked hard, we know what she had been through last one year and from there she is coming back, qualifying for Olympics final, that is answer for all. I really felt bad for her, it's a tough situation," Sreejesh said.
 

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