For 21-year-old Vinesh Phogat, one of the most promising and charming faces in women’s wrestling in India, the Pro Wrestling League (PWL) is more than just a money-spinner and exposure facilitator.
The league, according to Vinesh, has the potential to attract more girls to the sport.
Wrestling is popular in certain parts of the country and the presence of women’s wrestling is restricted to even smaller pockets such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Vinesh, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and an Asian Games bronze medallist last year and an Asian championship silver medallist this year, belongs to a Haryana-based family of six sisters who got the support of their family to take up wrestling. While a film based on their story is all set to hit the silver screen next month, Vinesh feels the environment is ideal for the sport and the PWL can contribute in popularising wrestling.
“When people across the country watch girls wrestle, they may be encouraged and allow their daughters to take up wrestling.
“Maybe the girls will get inspired by seeing us fight. Time will tell how much popularity women’s wrestling can gain from the league,” Vinesh told The Hindu after signing her PWL contract with Delhi Veer here on Monday.
“I hope wrestling becomes more popular. That will be a bigger source of happiness.”
A keen competitor on the mat, Vinesh knows the positives and negatives of taking part in the PWL. “The Olympics (next year) is our main target. The league will help a lot as the international events are few and far between.
“This is like an international-level event. We will know about our preparedness ahead of the Olympic qualifying event and will get some time to work on our shortcomings.”
“Working with the overseas wrestlers will be helpful. For example, the Swedish girl (Sofia Mattesson) is in my team will tell me the weak points of wrestlers from her country bought by other teams.
The flip side is the Indian girls in other franchises will share their inputs about my game with their overseas mates,” concluded Vinesh.
