Vinesh, Punia join Congress: Rathore calls it 'sad trend'

'Sports has been politicised, it is a sad thing': Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia Joining Congress

A month before the Haryana Assembly elections Olympian Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang joined the Congress party on September 6.

Phogat will contest the polls froim Julana while Bajrang is named working president of the Kisan Congress. Their entry into politics has sparked a wave of reactions, with Rajasthan's Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Department and Olmpic Medal winner Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, expressing his concerns about the politicisation of sports.

"Sports has been politicised, it is a sad thing. This is democracy, so everybody has the right to join politics but another field shouldn't get sullied. I feel that in Olympics, wrestling is such a sport, in which so many athletes take part and we get so many medals. This time more medals could have come if such an atmosphere had not been created earlier," Rathore told reporters in Jaipur on Monday.

Bajrang Punia, who clinched a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and Vinesh Phogat, the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final in Paris last month, are celebrated athletes in India.

However, Vinesh faced a setback at the Paris Olympics when she was disqualified from the 50 kg gold medal bout for being 100 grams overweight. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) also dismissed her petition to be awarded a joint silver, leading her to announce her retirement from wrestling on August 8, a day after her disqualification.

Meanwhile, Vinesh Phogat who began her campaign on Sunday exuded confidence in winning the Julana seat in the upcoming Haryana Assembly Elections and said that nothing can be bigger than being a winner in people's eyes, which she already is.

Vinesh Phogat kicked off her election campaign in the Jind region of Haryana on Sunday. "It feels good, people are very excited, the responsibility we have been given, the Congress party has sent us here as candidates, so people are giving us love and supporting us. Our people will make me win, and I am a winner in their eyes, so nothing can be bigger than this," Vinesh told reporters.