Leaving behind the tumultuous past that transpired from the wrestlers’ agitation led by the trio of Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, to uproot Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president, and the subsequent election of Singh’s close aide Sanjay Singh to the top post, the head of the sport’s governing body in the country assured that the federation will stand by the athlete, who was disqualified after being found overweight by a mere 100 grams ahead of her gold medal bout at the Paris Olympics.
“It’s unfortunate for the entire country. Vinesh did everything in her control to get to the gold medal bout, and was on the brink of scripting history. She wrestled so well in all the three bouts on Tuesday, and was on course for becoming the first woman wrestler from India to win at least a silver. The WFI has appealed to the United World Wrestling, but we can’t put pressure on them,” Singh said.
Singh further said that the UWW, International Olympic Committee and the Paris Olympics organisers are going by their rules, but assured that the WFI will fight till the last to ensure that India gets the medal.
“The federation (WFI) firmly stands with Vinesh. I got to know from her support staff of the efforts she had put throughout the night to shed her weight but unfortunately it emerged on Wednesday morning that she had 100 grams more,” he said.
“I was there in the stands for all her three bouts yesterday, and I have been in touch with her support team to track her activities. We will take our fight to the very end,” he assured.
However, Singh’s assurance might not cut much ice as it appears that Vinesh will return empty-handed from a third Olympic appearance.
The organising committee of Paris 2024 has already announced that Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinal, as the Indian’s replacement for the gold medal bout against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt.