Heartbreaking: Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat disqualified; to miss medal
Updated: Aug 7th, 2024
After having a rough year back in India, Vinesh Phogat, who entered the 50 kg freestyle final on Aug 6 with a surety of a medal, is now likely to be disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024.
The silver lining of getting gold in the Olympic Games for Phogat seems to have faded as she reportedly weighed "few grams over" grams over the permissible weight this morning ahead of the gold medal match today.
"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 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," the Indian Olympic Association said.
Moreover, the Indian grappler will be placed last in the as per UWW rules.
Just a day ago she made history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final at the Olympics after defeating Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba on Aug 6.
She started her campaign by stunning world No. 1, Japan's four-time World Champion and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Yui Susaki, who was undefeated in 95 international matches, in her entire career as a wrestler.
Phogat then advanced to her maiden semifinals after beating Ukraine's Oksana Vasylivna Livach 7-5 in her second bout of the day.
She was about to take on Sarah Ann Hilderbrandt of the United States on Mat B at the Champ-de-Mars Arena at 9.45 p.m. IST today.
As per competition rules, Phogat would not be eligible even for the silver medal, and the 50 kg boxing category will only have gold and bronze winners.
A former World No1 in 48kg, Vinesh was participating in her third Olympics. She missed out on a medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics because of an injury. She lost to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarterfinals in the Tokyo Olympics.
She is also the first Indian woman to have won gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games.
(With inputs from syndicated feed)
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