Rio Olympics 2016: WFI confirms wrestler Babita Kumari is in recovery mode following Zika virus scare

Rio de Janeiro: The Indian Olympic contingent suffered a Zika virus scare after Babita Kumari developed high fever but the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on Saturday confirmed that the wrestler is on the road to recovery and has also started practicing for her event, scheduled next week.

According to reports, Babita, who competes in women’s 53kg Freestyle, developed high fever and a severe body ache, and was immediately attended by the contingent doctors and the physiotherapists.

After examining the 26-year-old grappler, the doctors gave her medicines, which helped in bringing the fever down.

“Babita developed fever but now she is fine and has also started training,” WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar told PTI.

Babita, who belongs to the famous Phogat family, is expected to recover completely and attain full fitness before she takes the mat in her maiden Olympic Games on 18 August.

Other two women wrestlers in the fray are Babita’s cousin Vinesh Phogat (48kg) and Sakshi Malik (58kg).

Babita was lucky to have acquired a berth at the Rio Games as Mongolia’s Sumiya Erdenechimeg, who had defeated her at the Asian Olympic qualifier, failed a dope test. That gave the Indian girl a golden chance to board the flight to Rio.