In a heartbreaking twist of fate for Vinesh Phogat, the wrestler will be disqualified from the Paris Olympics after she could not make the weight on the morning of her 50 kg gold medal bout.
“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the Women’s Wrestling 50kg class,” the IOA said in a statement. “Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50kg this morning. No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests you respect Vinesh’s privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand.”
Earlier, sources said the wrestler was roughly 100 grams over the permissible limits, which could lead to her disqualification. According to competition rules, Phogat will not be eligible even for a silver medal and the 50 kg will have just gold and bronze medal winners.
She made the weight for Tuesday’s bouts but as per rule, wrestlers have to stay within their weight category on both days of the competition.
Understands that the wrestler, who reached the final defying all odds, was approximately 2 kilos overweight on Tuesday night. She didn’t sleep the whole night and did everything in her capacity to meet the criteria – from jogging to skipping and cycling. It is also learnt that Vinesh has been taken to the medical centre inside the village after feeling dizzy, due to dehydration.
However, it didn’t prove to be enough. Sources said the Indian delegation pleaded for some more time to give her a chance to shed the last 100 grams, but to no avail.
This isn’t the first time Phogat has found it tough to make the weight in the 50 kg category, a lower one compared to the 53 kg where she usually competes. She faced a similar ordeal even during the Olympic qualifiers, where she narrowly made the cut.
On Tuesday, Phogat became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Olympics. En route to the gold medal bout, she stunned the world number 1 and odds-on favourite Yui Susaki of Japan and followed it up with two more tactically brilliant wins over the wrestlers from Ukraine and Cuba.
She was scheduled to meet Sarah Hildebrandt in the final, a wrestler against whom Phogat has a better head to head record. But the American will now be awarded the gold medal while Phogat will return empty-handed.
