In a heartbreaking twist of fate for Vinesh Phogat, the wrestler is likely to be disqualified from the Paris Olympics after she could not make the weight on the morning of her 50 kg gold medal bout.
Sources said the wrestler was roughly 100 grams over the permissible limits, which could lead to her disqualification. According to competition rules, Phogat will not be eligible even for a silver medal and the 50 kg will have just gold and bronze medal winners.
An official announcement is expected later in the day. She made the weight for Tuesday’s bouts but as per rule, wrestlers have to stay within their weight category on both days of the competition.
understands that the wrestler, who reached the final defying all odds, was approximately 2 kilos overweight on Tuesday night. She didn’t sleep the whole night and did everything in her capacity to meet the criteria – from jogging to skipping and cycling.
However, it didn’t prove to be enough. Sources said the Indian delegation pleaded for some more time to give her a chance to shed the last 100 grams, but to no avail
This isn’t the first time Phogat has found it tough to make the weight in the 50 kg category, a lower one compared to the 53 kg where she usually competes. She faced a similar ordeal even during the Olympic qualifiers, where she narrowly made the cut.
On Tuesday, Phogat became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Olympics. En route to the gold medal bout, she stunned the world number 1 and odds-on favourite Yui Susaki of Japan and followed it up with two more tactically brilliant wins over the wrestlers from Ukraine and Cuba.