India’s dream of securing a Gold medal in the Paris Olympics 2024 was scattered right after Wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified for being overweight on the morning of her 50 kg gold medal bout.
Following her victory on Tuesday, Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian woman to reach the final of the Olympics. To make it to the gold medal bout, Phogat defeated the world number 1 Yui Susaki of Japan.
Before her disqualification, she was scheduled to meet Sarah Hildebrandt for the gold, a wrestler against whom Phogat has a better head-to-head record. But the American will now be awarded the gold medal while Phogat will return empty-handed.
As per the report, Phogat was roughly 100 grams over the permissible limit(50 kg) on the day of her gold medal bout. According to UWW rules, ‘If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in, he/she will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last without rank.”
Under the rules, wrestlers have to stay within their weight category on both days of the competition – on the preliminary rounds and the final. Vinesh Phogat was within the respective weight limit of 50 kg on her preliminary round day but failed to achieve the same on the day of her gold medal bout.
According to competition rules, Vinesh Phogat will not be eligible even for a silver medal and the 50 kg division of the category will have just gold and bronze medal winners.
Notably, Vinesh Phogat could have secured a Silver Medal if her support staff withdrew her name from the Final declaring her ill before the weight check.
According to the report, Phogat was approximately 2 kilograms overweight on Tuesday night. To achieve her desired weight, the wrestler didn’t sleep the whole night and did everything in her capacity to meet the criteria – from jogging to skipping and cycling.
Going a step ahead, the athlete, her coaches and support staff tried everything including extreme measures like cutting her hair and trying to draw out blood but their efforts did not yield the results they wanted.
Sources said the Indian delegation pleaded for some more time to give her a chance to shed the last 100 grams, but the efforts went in vain.
“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 in a statement.
Glory is for those who endure and dare! 💪
Vinesh Phogat is on her way to the wrestling finals of #Paris2024! 😍
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Notably, Vinesh Phogat decided to compete in the 50 kg category for the Paris Olympics, a lower one compared to the 53 kg where she usually competes.
“I will have to manage my weight a lot better. I have brought myself down to 50kg after so long so I will try and maintain this as much as I can. It’s not easy for me not to put on weight because my muscle mass is very high,” Vinesh told PTI in April after winning the 50kg quota for India.
This is not the first heartbreak for the wrestler, despite being a medal favourite, Vinesh Phogat was eliminated quite early in the Rio Olympics and Tokyo Games.
India so far won three bronze medals in the Paris Olympics and is positioned in 63rd place in the overall Paris Olympics 2024 Medal Tally.
Why Vinesh Phogat disqualified in Olympics 2024?
Vinesh Phogat disqualification reason: Overweight on the day of her Gold Medal bout.
The wrestler was roughly 100 grams over the permissible limit of 50 kg on the day of her Gold Medal bout.
