In a heart-wrenching fate for Vinesh Phogat, the wrestler will be disqualified from the Paris Olympics after missing weight in the 50kg gold medal match in the morning.
“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares the news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the Women’s Wrestling 50 kg category,” the IOA said in a statement. “Despite the team’s best efforts overnight she was a few grams over 50kg this morning.” The contingent will not make any further comments at this time. Team India requests that you respect Vinesh’s privacy. It would mean concentrating on the races at hand.”
Earlier, sources said that the wrestler exceeded the allowed limits by about 100 grams, which could lead to her disqualification. According to the competition rules, Phogat will not even be eligible for a silver medal and the 50 kg will only have gold and bronze medals.
She made weight for Tuesday’s matches, but the rule is that wrestlers must stay in their weight class for both days of competition.
She stayed up all night doing everything she could to meet the criteria – from jogging to jumping rope and cycling. They also learned that Vinesh was taken to the village health center after he felt dizzy due to dehydration.
However, this did not prove to be enough. Sources said the Indian delegation pleaded for some more time to give her a chance to drop the last 100 grams but to no avail.
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This is not the first time Phogat has found it difficult to make weight in the 50kg category, lower than the 53kg where she usually competes. She also faced similar suffering during the Olympic qualification, where she narrowly passed.
On Tuesday, Phogat became the first Indian female wrestler to reach an Olympic final. She stunned world number one and betting favorite Yui Susaki of Japan on her way to the gold, and followed that up with two more tactically brilliant wins over wrestlers from Ukraine and Cuba.
In the final, she was scheduled to meet Sarah Hildebrandt, a wrestler against whom Phogat has a better record. But the American will now get the gold medal while Phogat will return empty-handed.
