India's top wrestler joins opposition Congress party

Vinesh Phogat announced her decision to join the Congress party on Friday

India's top wrestler Vinesh Phogat has joined the country's main opposition Congress party, weeks after she retired from the sport following an Olympics heartbreak.

Phogat was recently in the news for being disqualified from the Paris Games after failing the weigh-in ahead of her final match.

Her decision to join politics, announced by the Congress on Friday, comes days before the assembly elections in Haryana, which is Phogat's home state.

"I'm very grateful that God has given me an opportunity to serve the people of my country," she said at a press conference.

"I want to help people, especially women, with the same amount of dedication and hard work as I put into my wrestling career," she added.

Along with her, fellow wrestler and Olympian Bajrang Punia was also inducted into the party.

There was widespread speculation about the wrestlers joining the Congress after they met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on Wednesday.

Political analysts say that the wrestlers' popularity among locals - especially farmers, who make up a majority of the population in Haryana - could work in the party's favour. The elections are set to be held on 5 October and votes will be counted three days later.

In the past, Phogat has extended her support to the ongoing farmers' protests.

The farmers have been asking the government for guaranteed floor prices - also known as minimum support price or MSP - which allows them to sell most of their produce at government-controlled wholesale markets, among other demands.

Earlier in the day, Phogat resigned from the Indian Railways, where she held the position of an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) - a post offered by the railways to Olympians and other sportspeople to honour their achievements.

She shared a copy of her resignation letter on X (formerly Twitter) and attributed her decision to "personal reasons".

Punia and Phogat met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday

Last year, Phogat had also played a key role in the wrestlers' protests against their former federation chief, Brij Bhushan Singh, who has been accused of sexually harassing female wrestlers. Mr Singh, who is an influential politician and former lawmaker from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has denied all the allegations against him.

The row made headlines globally, especially after the police detained Phogat and other wrestlers during a demonstration. Dramatic images showing her being dragged by officers and being loaded in a police van had caused international outrage.

More recently, Phogat won the hearts of millions of Indians with her stellar performance at the Olympics.

She progressed swiftly to the finals, even defeating Japan's Yui Susaki, the reigning world champion, in one of her matches, but was disqualified from her final bout for weighing a few grams above the 50kg limit on the morning of the match.

The disqualification came as a blow to her fans and crushed India's hopes of winning an Olympic gold in wrestling - something no female athlete from the country has managed to do so far.

A day later, she announced her retirement from the sport.

The wrestler challenged her disqualification at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), which dismissed her plea, saying that the "facts [of the case] were not in dispute".