India’s pride and one of the best wrestlers Vinesh Phogat who was left just one match away from achieving the ultimate feat of in Paris was disqualified just hours before the final. Vinesh was from the 50 kg freestyle wrestling event but was discovered 100 grams over the 50 kg limit. Vinesh mostly wrestles in the 53 kg category but had to drop her weight to 50 kg for the Paris Olympics. On the second day of the weigh-in, she was caught a little over the allowed limit, to be precise she was over the limit by about 100 grams. The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has appealed for her disqualification.
Indian superstar wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was standing at the door of achieving the ultimate glory at the Paris Olympic Games 2024, was ruled out of the event hours before the final. Vinesh, who was representing her country in 50 kg freestyle wrestler category, was caught 100 grams overweight for her category. Vinesh normally wrestles in the 53 kg class but had to shed her exempted weight to 50 kg for the Paris Games. Actually during her weigh-in on the second day she was over the required limit, though it was only by approximately a hundred grams. There is a detailed report from the International Olympic Committee read as follows: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has appealed for her disqualification.
This series suggests that Vinesh Phogat was told last night that her weight had increased by 1 kg. Hoping to shed the extra kilos, she put the pedal to the metal on cycles and other exercise forms through the night and by the break of dawn was able to shed 900gm, sources claim. She neither slept the whole night in order to shed some body weight before the event could be held.
When she was weighed over the limit, the Indian officials appealed to offer more time to the Olympics committee but there was “very little rhetoric given to negotiating,” sources said.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi who described but encouraged wrestler Vinesh Phogat said he felt helpless, he contacted the IOA president PT Usha and instructed her to file a forceful protest. He also urged that India should not have any limitation on the number of times it appeals on the case.
Vinesh Phogat created history by making it to the finals of a wrestling event during the Olympics making it her first time to do so for the country. Women’s discus thrower’s wedding has left India shocked after she was disqualified just before she could clinch a gold or silver in the Olympics.
Vinesh was all but certain that she would be claiming a silver but her unfortunate disqualification means that she will be returning home empty-handed from the Paris Games.
The first bout with the Paris Games opponent was the toughest one for Vinesh. She was paired with a Japanese wrestler, Yui Susaki who did not record any defeat in her international wrestling career; besides, she was a four-time world Olympics champion. But then, Vinesh happened.
In the realm of wrestling, the dynamics of the game depend on the ability of a player to possess mental strength and efficacies apart from physical coordination; and this is what came to help Vinesh to draw power and effectively apply a perfect game plan. In what can be considered one of the biggest shocks in the Olympic history, she defeated the Olympic champion.
Vinesh then got the better of Ukraine’s Oksana Livach to cut the semifinals for women’s 50kg freestyle category. She cried with joy but there was still work to be done on the wedding dress.
In the semifinals, Vinesh outmailed Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez which ensured a medal and the first Indian woman wrestler to make it to the final at the Olympics.
But, the heartbreak on Tuesday morning was for Vinesh Phogat and a billion Indians.
