Wrestler Ritika Phogat passes away: Celebrated wrestlers Geeta and Babita Phogat's maternal cousin Ritika Phogat reportedly died by suicide after losing in the final of a local wrestling tournament underway in Bharatpur. According to reports, Ritika was distressed after losing the final match.
Reportedly, Ritika, after losing by just a single point, could not "bear" the insult and hanged herself at around 11 pm on Wednesday night. She was only 17 years old.
Ritika had records of participating in a state-level sub-junior, junior women, and latest men wrestling competition at Lohagarh Stadium. She competed in the final of the event of her category, which was held on Sunday (March 14) and lost it by a narrow margin.
Taking to Twitter, former Chief of Army Staff and Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Vijay Kumar Singh offered his condolences and wrote, "Terrible news that we lost #RitikaPhogat who had a brilliant career ahead. The world has changed from where it was some decades ago. Athletes are facing pressures which were not there earlier. An essential part of their training should be to deal with these pressures."
Geeta and Babita Phogat became role models for aspiring women wrestlers, more so after the film based on their lives Dangal released in 2016. Coming from the famous family of wrestlers, Ritika had trained under Dronacharya awardee and father of the Phogat sisters Mahavir Phogat, who was also present during the match.
Feature Image Credit: News18 Hindi
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