Vinesh Phogat is a bit disappointed when she is told that neither Roger Federer nor Serena Williams will be present at the Laureus Sports Awards this year.
She has always admired those tennis greats, who are also the most successful champions at the Laureus; Federer has been Sportsman-of-the-Year five times and Serena won the Sportswoman-of-the-Year on four occasions.
The 24-year-old gold medallist at both the Asian and Commonwealth Games may not be able to take selfies with them, but she still is happy to be in Monaco.
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First Indian
She is justifiably proud that she has been nominated for the Comeback-of-the-Year award. She is the first Indian in the two-decade-old history of Laureus to make it to the list of nominees.
“I was delighted when I came to know that I was nominated,” Vinesh told
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“It is a big honour. It is good for the sport of wrestling, and even better for Indian wrestling.”
Among her rivals for the award is golfing legend Tiger Woods. “It feels great to be in such company,” she says. “It is really nice to be among so many great sportspersons from around the world. And I have enjoyed my time here in this beautiful city.”
From here she will travel to Bulgaria for her next assignment, a ranking tournament. She has already set her eyes on Tokyo, where the Olympic Games will be held next year.
“There is nothing like the Olympics,” she says. “Watching wrestlers like Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt win Olympic medals was a huge inspiration for me.”
She is glad that the profile of wrestling has improved in India.
“More people now know about wrestling and the hard work we put in; the Hindi film Dangal has helped certainly,” she says. “And more and more girls want to do wrestling now.”
Better coaches
Vinesh, however, feels India needs better coaches. “With foreign coaches we could do better,” she says. “I am glad that I am working with my Hungarian coach Woller Akos.”
(The writer is in Monte Carlo at the invitation of Laureus)