Vinesh Phogat was to play the final on Wednesday. In such a situation, when she was weighed before the final, her weight was found to be 100 grams more than 50 kg. In such a situation, Vinesh was disqualified and now she will not get any medal.
Vinesh Phogat, who created history by reaching the final of women’s 50 kg freestyle wrestling at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, has suffered a major setback. Vinesh Phogat was found to be 100 grams overweight in the weigh-in before the final match, so she was disqualified under the rules. This means that Vinesh will not get any medal in Paris. This news has broken the hearts of crores of fans because fans were expecting gold from Vinesh in Paris. At the same time, many questions are also being raised about this.
Vinesh played three bouts on Tuesday. Vinesh first won the pre-quarterfinal. After this, she made it to the final by winning the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. Vinesh played three fights, so it was certain that her weight would increase, because she would have tried to refresh herself before every fight.
According to sources, Vinesh, her coach and sports staff were aware of her increased weight only after the semi-finals late at night. After the semi-finals, Vinesh’s weight was around 52.7 kg. In such a situation, Vinesh made every effort to reduce her weight. Vinesh worked out all night. Vinesh neither ate food nor drank water the whole night. She cycled, jogged, skipped and made every effort to reduce her weight.
Vinesh also adopted the method used by wrestlers to reduce their weight by shaving their stomachs. However, when it did not work in the end, some other steps were taken. According to Sportstar’s report, when everything failed, they resorted to measures like cutting Vinesh’s hair and drawing blood, but these efforts also did not yield results.
The 29-year-old wrestler weighed in 100 grams over the 50 kg weight limit during the weigh-in at 7.15 am Paris time on Wednesday morning. He weighed in at 49.90 kg on Tuesday morning ahead of his first round bout. However, he weighed in at around 52.7 after the semi-final, which was held the same day, was over. According to the rules, “If an athlete does not attend or fails the weigh-in, he is eliminated from the competition and placed last without ranking.”
According to sources, an appeal was made within half an hour in Vinesh Phogat’s weight case, the Olympic rule is that an appeal has to be made within half an hour in any case. But now India does not have many options left. Vinesh will be the first athlete to be disqualified from the final due to weight loss.
This is not the first time that Phogat has had difficulty lifting weight in the 50 kg category, it is less than the 53 kg category where she usually competes. She had to face a similar test during the Olympic qualifiers, where she reached the cut by a narrow margin.
At the same time, according to the BBC report, Bajrang Punia had expressed concern about Vinesh Phogat’s weight on Wednesday morning. Bajrang had said, “No player celebrates first. First the weight has to be reduced. It is difficult to bring down the weight from 50 kg. Boys lose weight quickly. Boys sweat more. Girls have a lot of difficulty. They find it difficult to bring their weight below 50 kg.” Bajrang Punia further said, “For the last six months, she was constantly trying to lose weight. She was surviving on a little water and one or two rotis. It is very difficult to lose weight.”
