In a shocking turn of events, wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday disqualified from the ongoing Paris Olympics after being found overweight ahead of her women's 50kg final. (Medal Table | Schedule & Results | Full Coverage)
Earlier, Vinesh had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout in the event on Tuesday night.
The Indian Olympic Association later confirmed the development and requested privacy for the wrestler, who was competing in her third Olympics.
"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," the IOA stated.
"No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests you to respect Vinesh's privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand," it added.
Vinesh Phogat, who had previously won laurels for the country in the 53kg category, had weighed 100 grams more than the minimum required limit leading to her disqualification. Now, as per the competition rules, the Indian grappler won't even get the silver medal and the 50kg event will have just gold and bronze medal winners.
This development comes months after the protracted protest by the wrestlers against the then Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Bris Bhushan Sharan Singh. The WFI was finally suspended and in the subsequent election, Sanjay Singh was elected the new president of the WFI.
How Vinesh Phogat qualified for 50kg
Phogat, a double World Championships bronze medallist, competed in two Olympic weights, 50kg and 53kg, during India's selection trials at Patiala -- rather unusually on the same day -- in March.
The trials were delayed, as reported widely, as the 29-year-old demanded that the 53kg bouts be held the following day after the 50kg trials so that she could compete in both weights. The ad-hoc committee of the Indian wrestling body, with the technical committee, then decided to allow her to fight in both weights. The reasoning was: "There is no rule which stops a wrestler from competing in two weights in a trial."
The United World Wrestling’s Article-7, however, said that “Each contestant deemed to be taking part of his/her own free will, and responsible for himself/herself, shall be allowed to compete in only one weight category: the one corresponding to his weight at the time of the official weigh-in.”
As it turned out, Phogat beat Nirmala Devi, the national champion, 10-0 in the semi-final and Shivanee Pawar 11-6 in the final of the 50kg event. But she lost 10-0 to Anju in the 53kg semi-final.
It's worth taking note that Phogat lowered her weight category after Antim Panghal had already earned an Olympic quota in the 53kg.
