Trisha Ghosh, Pune
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from the Olympics in Paris after being unable to fulfil weight requirements in the women’s category of 50 kg for wrestling. She will not be able to participate in the finals and will most likely lose her promised silver medal as well. The wrestler, who is 29 years old, was found to be 150 grams over the weight limit.
Upon her disqualification by the Indian Olympic Association, the wrestler, along with her support staff and coaches, attempted to reduce her weight in various ways, including cutting off some parts of her hair and even drawing blood; however, these attempts were unsuccessful.
Jonathan Selvaraj, journalist at Sportstar magazine, expressed his disappointment at the decision in a post on ‘X’ and stated that, as per the rules of United World Wrestling (UWW), any wrestler who cannot make weight shall be disqualified from the contest and placed last (link: https://x.com/jon_selvaraj/status/1821072702935068914 ).
On Tuesday, 6th August, Phogat competed against and defeated Yusneylis Guzman from Cuba with a score of 5-0 in the semi-final of the Women’s Freestyle 50 kg. This has cemented her in history as the first Indian female wrestler to reach the finals in the Olympics, making her sudden disqualification even more unfortunate. Before Guzman, she defeated Yui Susaki of Japan and Oksana Livach of Ukraine. She was going to compete for the gold against Sarah Hildebrandt of the USA in the finals.
Incidentally, Phogat usually competes in the 53 kg category but switched to 50 kg so as to not miss the opportunity in the Olympics. She had said to PTI that she has been trying to manage her weight better than before. She tends to put on weight easily due to her muscle mass being high.
Furthermore, she has already been disqualified twice in previous competitions despite her high performances, once in the Rio Olympics and another in the Tokyo Games.
Phogat’s disqualification has brought reactions of dismay and anger from multiple people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi on ‘X’ (link: https://x.com/narendramodi/status/1821083814363591059 ). MP Sanjay Singh from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has openly called for the Olympics to be boycotted, terming the disqualification an insult to the country.
Ultimately, if the disqualification remains, the wrestler will not win any medal at the Summer Olympics this year.