In a shocking turn of events, wrestler Vinesh Phogat was on Wednesday disqualified from the Paris Olympics after being found overweight ahead of the crucial women’s 50kg final, later tonight.
Vinesh had on Tuesday scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout at the Olympics.
.“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the women’s wrestling 50kg class. Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed a few grams over 50kg this morning. No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time,” a statement from the Indian contingent read.
“The Indian team requests you to respect Vinesh’s privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand,” it further read. This is not the first instance when Vinesh has encountered problems in meeting the weight requirements for the 50kg category, a division lower than her usual 53kg class.
Earlier, during the Olympic qualifiers, the grappler faced a similar challenge where she barely managed to qualify.
According to reliable sources, the grappler was found to be roughly over a kilogram over the weight limit, and in a desperate attempt to shed the extra weight, she spent the entire night engaging in various activities, such as jogging, skipping and cycling.
Despite spending a sleepless night, and the relentless efforts, Vinesh failed to get rid of the extra weight, and was found to be a few grams over the required limit. The Indian contingent made an earnest appeal for an extension, hoping to provide her with a final opportunity to lose weight.
However, their requests were denied by the organisers. The disqualification means Phogat will return empty-handed from a third straight Olympics. As per the competition rules, Vinesh will not be eligible even for a silver medal and the 50kg event will have just the gold and bronze medals (including the repechage). While Phogat successfully made the weight for the bouts on Tuesday, the rules state that wrestlers must maintain their body weight within the required limits throughout the entire competition.
According to the rules, wrestlers are required to weigh in twice: once on the morning of the preliminary rounds and again on the morning of the final. Vinesh successfully met the weight limit during the first weigh-in on Tuesday morning. However, after competing in three bouts, including the historic win over defending champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the opener, Vinesh’s weight likely increased after replenishing herself throughout the day.
The United World Wrestlings’s rule book, specifically Article 11, states, “If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without rank.” As a result of failing to meet the weight requirement, Vinesh will be disqualified from the competition and will lose the medal.