Vinesh Phogat celebrates after defeating Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman compete during their women’s freestyle 50kg wrestling semifinal match. (Picture Credit: AP)
Vinesh, who was disqualified for being 100gm overweight ahead of her 50kg category gold medal bout in the Olympics on Wednesday, had appealed against her disqualification in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).
Star Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who was disqualified for being 100 gm overweight ahead of her 50 kg category gold medal bout on Wednesday (August 7), can still win a silver medal at the Paris Olympics 2024.
According to the latest development on Thursday, Vinesh had appealed against her disqualification in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on two counts. The first was to let her weigh in again, which the court rejected and stated that the decision has been made and the gold medal match will be played as scheduled.
The second appeal was to award her a silver medal because she had earned it with a proper weigh-in on Tuesday. The CAS has said that it will deliberate on it.
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An ad hoc division of CAS has been set up in Paris for the resolution of any disputes arising during the Olympic Games.
Earlier on Thursday morning, Vinesh announced her decision to retire from wrestling by saying that she doesn’t have the strength to continue anymore.
Addressing her mother Premlata, Vinesh wrote in an X post, “Ma, wrestling has won, I have lost. Please forgive me, your dreams and my courage, everything is broken.”
“I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye wrestling 2001-2024. I shall be indebted to you all. Forgive (me),” she added.
Vinesh’s painful Olympic record
Vinesh’s relationship with the Olympic Games has been a painful one, starting with her debut in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
She had to be stretchered off the mat after suffering a career-threatening anterior cruciate ligament tear in her quarterfinal bout.
Vinesh was 21 at the time and sobbed bitterly through that ordeal, something that prompted an emotional response from even her opponent, China’s Sun Yanan, who famously walked along with the stretcher as a gesture of support for the debutant.
She rebuilt herself over the next four years and made it to the Tokyo Games, which were held at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this time, she seemed a bit underprepared and was knocked out following a quarterfinal loss.
Her build-up for the 2024 Games was perhaps the most controversy-ridden and tumultuous. She was on the streets for over a month, protesting against Brij Bhushan and the “government inaction” on the charges against him.
She eventually dropped to the 50 kg category to stay in the hunt for an Olympic spot and, against all odds, made it too.
But, as fate would have it, she fell short yet again.
(With inputs from PTI)
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