The news of Vinesh Phogat's disqualification has sent the entire nation into a state of gloom. Vinesh, the coaches and the support staff did everything to bring her weight down but failed by just 100 grams. Right when Vinesh was gearing up for the gold medal and the entire nation was rallying behind her, the news of her disqualification from Paris Olympics 2024 came as a shock.
Vinesh was reportedly 100gm overweight, exceeding the permissible 50 kg limit for her weight category. This made her previous wins null and void and the wrestler will now be ranked the last in the competition. As per the United World Westling rules, "If an athlete does not attend or fails the weigh-in, he or she will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last without a ranking."
The measures team took to bring the weight down
Vinesh had passed the test on Tuesday but was found to be 2 kgs overweight, which is more than the permissible limit. The coaches didn't let her sleep the entire night, cut her hair short and even shortened her clothes to bring down her weight. Vinesh also refrained from eating or drinking anything for 12 hours and kept on jogging, skipping and cycling to reduce weight.
What the IOA says
This even led to the wrestler facing bouts of fainting but she kept on, as the Indian Express report stated. Despite the extreme measures, Vinesh was let down by just 100 grams. The Indian Olympics association took to social media and wrote, "No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests that you respect Vinesh's privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand."
PT Usha, the head of IOA, has now said that they have written to UWW to reconsider the disqualification. "The WFI has filed an appeal to UWW to consider the decision to disqualify Vinesh and IOA is following it up in the strongest possible manner. I am aware of the efforts made by Vinesh's medical team Dinshaw Padriwala and Gagan Narang so that she could meet the competition requirements."
