New Delhi: Champion wrestler Vinesh Phogat arrived at the Indira Gandhi International airport here on Saturday after she was disqualified for being overweight after reaching the 50kg final at the Paris Olympics.
Tight security arrangements were made when Phogat, who was found to be 100 grams overweight on the day of her bout earlier this month, arrived in the national capital.
Phogat had to stay back in Paris as she appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for her joint silver medal, which was eventually rejected on Wednesday.
London Olympics bronze medallist shooter Gagan Narang, who was the chief de mission of the Indian contingent in Paris, posted a photo with Phogat at the Paris airport, calling her a champion. They were on the same flight to Delhi.
“She came to the Games Village as a champion from day one and she will always be our champion. Sometimes it doesn’t take an Olympic medal to inspire a billion dreams… @vineshphogat you have inspired generations. Salute to your courage,” Narang wrote on Twitter.
Her brother Harvinder Phogat said, “Vinesh is returning to the country. People have come here (to Delhi) to the airport to welcome her. People are waiting to welcome her in our village as well. People are excited to meet Vinesh and cheer her up.”
He will also be given a grand welcome in his ancestral village Balali in Haryana.