“Is It A Crime To Ask For Physiotherapist…”: Wrestler Vinesh Phogat On Request For Physiotherapist Travelling To Tokyo Olympics | Olympics News

Indian wrestler and a Tokyo Olympics medal hopeful Vinesh Phogat tweeted on Thursday to say she had asked for a physiotherapist to accompany her and other women wrestlers to Tokyo “long back”. In response to a media report, Phogat asked if it’s a crime to request for one physiotherapist for four women wrestlers participating at the Games. “Is it a crime to ask for one Physiotherapist for four women wrestlers when there are instances of one athlete having multiple coaches/ Staff?” Phogat tweeted on Thursday. “Where is the balance? We have asked for a Physio long back and not at the last moment”.

Phogat will compete in women’s freestyle 53kg category and will have her first match on August 5.

At the Rio Olympics in 2016, Phogat was carried off the mat on a stretcher as she suffered a career-threatening knee injury in the quarter-finals.

After undergoing a surgery and five months of rehabilitation, Phogat made an impressive return to the mat by winning gold at Commonwealth Games and Asian Games in 2018 and finishing third at the World Championships in 2019.

Phogat enters Tokyo 2020 in red-hot form after having won all of her competitions this year including a gold medal at the Asian Championships.

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“It is difficult, but if you have to perform as an athlete at the top level then one has to be mentally strong,” Phogat had said in an interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month.

“Family has a big role to play to push you to that next level. The federation and everybody have worked together, so I believe it’s our duty not to disappoint them.”