2023 was a really memorable 12 months for Indian sport. With a lot having occurred, ESPN India picks ten photographs that inform the story of probably the most gorgeous moments we witnessed over the 12 months. Our tenth and remaining choose is a second when India’s champion wrestlers have been pinned down on the highway by the police throughout their protests.

Vinesh Phogat and Sangeeta Phogat on the highway, arms clasped round one another. Sangeeta on her again, Vinesh on prime of her, shielding her from the police personnel in flak jackets and boots. The flag of the Republic of India on a stick, of their arms, on the highway.

It seems like an age in the past, in a long-forgotten time when India hadn’t gained 107 medals on the Asian Games, when Indian sports activities wasn’t a carnival of optimism and gold-winning, history-making brilliance.

On May 28, 2023, the Prime Minister of the nation led the inauguration of the brand new Parliament constructing in New Delhi. A number of roads down, India’s biggest wrestlers have been marching in protest towards a person who was one of many reported attendees on the inauguration: former Wrestling Federation of India chief and sitting Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. And they have been met with all of the pressure of the Indian system. Instead of being on the mat, wrestling one another and coaching to tackle the world, they have been right here, being pinned down by their very own.

You know the details — the horrible accusations towards Singh, the months lengthy sit-in that Vinesh Phogat and Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik led on the streets of India’s capital. You even know what got here after — the talks with the Government, the submitting of a case towards Singh, an authority determine dropped at courtroom by the sheer dedication of a handful of champions who selected to not maintain quiet. You know the case continues to be occurring.

But if one photograph, one second, captured the character of this great struggle, of simply how David vs Goliath this all was, it was this. They say an image speaks a thousand phrases. This one does the work of ten.