Indian wrestler Antim Panghal refuted the rumours of her and her sister’s arrest in Paris. After Antim’s 0-10 loss against Turkey’s Yetgil Zeynep, it was reported that she tried to sneak her sister into the Olympic Games village using her accreditation card but was detained by the French police. However, Antim has now revealed that no such thing happened. While it is true that her sister was taken to the police station, Antim said that it only happened as the police wanted to verify her true identity.
In a video shared by NNIS Sports, Antim revealed that it was she who went to her sister’s hotel after falling sick. Since she had forgotten some of her stuff at the Games village, she asked her sister Nisha to get the things from the village, which is when the entire trouble started.
“It wasn’t my day yesterday, as I lost my bout. 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,” Antim said in a video on Thursday.
“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. I wasn’t taken to the police station,” she added.
Antim also revealed that her sister was released by the police soon after the verification was completed “After the verification was done, my sister was sent back with the accreditation card,” she said.
A rumour about Antim’s coaches getting into a fight with a cab driver also surfaced. She shed light on the incident as well.
“It was also said that my coach fought with a driver but that isn’t true either. 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,” she said.
As far as her return is concerned, the federation had booked her flight from Paris soon after her elimination from the Paris Games was confirmed.
About my return to India, it was I who told the federation to book my flight for today or tomorrow. They had already done that. I request all of you to not spread rumours, as my time here has already been torrid. Thank you.
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