Paris Olympics 2024 has brought a Wednesday morning shocker for the Indian contingent and the fans as after confirming at least a Silver medal, wrestler Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from the tournament. Phogat, who was set to fight in the Gold medal match bout against USA's Sarah Hilderbrandt, will now miss the medal after being found 100gms roughly overweight in the 50kg category. A disqualified athlete can't contest for medal and unfortunately for Vinesh, after what she has been through will return empty-handed.
"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," IOA said in a statement after Vinesh's disqualification.
Vinesh was roughly over her weight category by a couple of kgs Tuesday (August 6) night and did everything in her capacity to shed the extra weight to meet the eligibility criteria before the weigh-in on Wednesday morning. However, she still was around 100gms heavier. The Indian contingent reportedly asked for some more time for Vinesh to shed that extra weight but to no avail as she was disqualified.
As per the Olympics rule, Vinesh will finish last. Cuban wrestler, who suffered a defeat to Vinesh in the semi-final will now fight for Gold.
As per Article 11 about weigh-in in wrestling, "The referees responsible for the weigh-in must check that all wrestlers are of the weight corresponding to the category in which they are entered for the competition, that they fulfil all the requirements of Article 5 and to inform any wrestler of the risk he runs if he presents himself on the mat in incorrect dress. Referees will refuse to weigh a wrestler who is not dressed correctly.
"If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without rank. If an athlete is injured during the first day, he doesn't have to attend the second weigh-in and will keep his results," the rules further read.
Vinesh, who got past the Japanese world champion Yui Susaki and wrestlers from Ukraine and Cuba one after the other on Tuesday to make it to the Gold medal match after what she has been through on and off the court. But this is beyond heartbreaking for Vinesh and the whole of India!
