Indian Olympian Vinesh Phogat swaps wrestling arena for politics

By Ainnie Arif

JULANA, India (Reuters) - Indian Olympic wrestling star Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Games, but she's determined to keep fighting for her constituency and against sexual harassment of women as she contests state elections this Saturday.

Phogat retired from wrestling after she was disqualified ahead of the women's 50 kg freestyle final for failing to make weight.

She now spends her days campaigning in her native state of Haryana for the main opposition Congress party, receiving blessings from party elders and building on the momentum that she and other wrestlers created last year by protesting against a politician charged with sexually harassing women athletes.

"I'm here to bring change in all sectors and take care of everyone equally, especially the women in my constituency," Phogat, 30, said ahead of one of her door-to-door campaigns.

"It's crucial that the struggle we started against sexual harassment two years ago meets a beautiful and fulfilling ending. Harassment happens in all sectors, some cases come into public light and some do not."

Phogat and other wrestlers including Sakshi Malik, an Olympic bronze medalist, were the faces of a months-long protest demanding criminal action against the then-chief of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

A Delhi court this year charged Singh, a former lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party, with sexual harassment and criminal intimidation. He denied any wrongdoing.

Phogat is a celebrity in the Julana constituency of Haryana, and her family of wrestlers were the subject of Bollywood blockbuster "Dangal".

She recalled how empty she felt after her disqualification from the Olympics, but said the support of her community helped her find a new purpose in politics.

"I used to stay home all day. But hundreds of people visited me everyday, asked me to not abandon the spirit of the fighter," she said.

Phogat's new career will be challenging. Congress has won the Julana constituency only four times since 1967, although opinion polls predict Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party could lose the Haryana election this time. Results will be out on Oct. 8.

Several voters - many of them women - predicted a landslide win for Phogat.

"If women didn't support women, who would," said a young woman voting for the first time.

(This story has been corrected to fix the date of the results from Oct. 4 to Oct. 8 in paragraph 11)

(Reporting by Ainnie Arif; Editing by Krishna N. Das and Miral Fahmy)