Heartbreak! Vinesh Phogat Disqualified from the Final for Being Overweight by 100gms

Moneylife Digital Team 07 August 2024

In a heartbreak for crores of Indians and the wrestling community, Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from the women's 50kg event at the Paris Olympics after being a 'few grams over' the permissible limits.

In a message on X, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) says, "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."

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…
— Team India (@WeAreTeamIndia) August 7, 2024

As per UWW rules, vinesh will be placed last in the list.

Five times Olympian Abhinav Bindra summed the feeling of the entire country in his post on X. He says, "Completely gutted. Sometimes you don't need a gold medal to be a true champion to people…"

Completely gutted . Sometimes u dont need a gold medal to be a true champion to people….
— Abhinav A. Bindra OLY (@Abhinav_Bindra) August 7, 2024

Speaking on the disqualification of Vinesh in the finals, Union minister for sports Mansukh Mandaviya told the Lok Sabha that "Vinesh was playing in the 50-kg category. As per the rules and regulations of United World Wrestling (UWW), the weight of all the athletes across all the categories is measured every morning. Vinesh's weight was found to be 50kg and 100gm, following which she was disqualified. The IOA (Indian Olympic Association) has registered strong protests with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). IOA president PT Usha is in Paris... prime minister (PM) (Narendra) Modi has spoken to her (Ms Usha) and asked her to take requisite action in the matter."

Just yesterday, Vinesh became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of an Olympic Games after defeating Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman 5-0 in the semifinal.

Before that, she stunned world No. 1, Japan's four-time World Champion and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Yui Susaki, who was undefeated in 95 international matches in her entire career as a wrestler.

Vinesh then defeated Ukraine's Oksana Vasylivna Livach 7-5 in her second bout of the day.

This is the third Olympics for Vinesh.—A former World No.1 in 48kg, this is the third Olympics for Vinesh.

This is the third Olympics for Vinesh. In 2016 Rio Olympics, she narrowly missed a bronze medal due to an injury. In Tokyo, she lost to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarter final.

Earlier, Vinesh participated in 48kg and 53kg categories. This year, however, she is participating in 52kg category for the first time.

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