More drama has emerged from the Indian wrestling community in Paris after the sister of one of their competitors was detained by police for attempting to enter the athletes’ village with her sibling’s accreditation. The same wrestler had to deny speculation her coaches got into a serious dispute with a Parisian taxi driver.
Only the interventions of India’s chef de mission enabled Nisha Panghal to be released from a police station in Saint-Denis at 11.30pm on Wednesday night. Reports in India say the wrestler Antim Panghal has had her accreditation cancelled by a furious Indian Olympic Association and is staying in a Paris hotel before her flight home.
Indian wrestling was already reeling from the shock disqualification of Vinesh Phogat before her gold medal bout. Phogat was 100 grams overweight and eliminated from the competition, triggering a note of sympathy from the prime minister of India. Phogat has since announced her retirement from wrestling. “Wrestling won and I lost,” wrote Phogat in an emotional social media post on Thursday morning. “My dreams are shattered. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I will always be indebted to you all. I am sorry.”
Antim Panghal suffered a heavy loss to Turkey’s Yetgil Zeynep on Wednesday. World is One News first reported a message sent by security at the athletes’ village to Indian team management shortly after 8pm. It read: “There is someone with the accreditation of your athlete trying to enter the Olympic village via workforce entrance. According to our security colleagues at the workforce entrance, the person who is trying to enter with this accreditation does not seem to be the owner of the accreditation.”
A follow-up message says: “She is being escorted to the police station for the formal procedures of filing the police report. The address of the police station is 37 Rue de Landy, Saint-Denis.”
On Thursday, Antim Panghal posted a video claiming she had gone to her sister’s hotel after feeling unwell. “It wasn’t my day yesterday, as I lost my bout,” the wrestler said. “But, since I’ve lost, talks are going on that my sister has been arrested by the police, or I’ve been arrested by the police, nothing of that sort has happened.
“When I lost my bout yesterday, I got a fever. My sister, who has been living in a hotel, wanted to take me there. I had taken permission from my coaches to go with her, as I wasn’t feeling well.
“They gave me permission and I came to the hotel. When I came here, I needed some of my stuff, which was still in the Olympic Village. As I was unwell, I slept. My sister took my accreditation card and went to the village. She asked the authorities there if she was allowed to get my stuff from the village. The authorities took away the accreditation card from her and took her to the police station for verification. This was the only reason she was taken to the police station.”
Panghal also tried to clarify reports in India that her coaching team had been fighting with a Paris taxi driver on Wednesday night. She added: “My coaches were just upset with my loss. I was the one who booked their cab. They came to the hotel but got into a bit of trouble because of a language barrier.
“They wanted to come to the hotel to collect money (Euros) but some miscommunication happened with the cab driver. One of my coaches came to the room to collect money and since the room was high up in the building, it took some time. The delay resulted in a bit of an argument with the cab driver, but nothing major.”
