Heartbreak for India: Vinesh Phogat Disqualified from Paris Olympics

Paris, August 7: In a significant setback for Indian wrestling, Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from the women’s 50kg event at the Paris Olympics after being weighed “a few grams over” the permissible limit on Wednesday morning.

“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,” the Indian Olympic Association stated.

According to United World Wrestling (UWW) rules, the Indian grappler will now be placed last in the rankings.

Vinesh made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of an Olympic Games. She defeated Cuba’s Yusneylys Guzman 5-0 in the semifinal. She started her campaign by stunning world No. 1, Japan’s four-time World Champion and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Yui Susaki, who had been undefeated in 95 international matches throughout her career. Vinesh then advanced to the semifinals after beating Ukraine’s Oksana Vasylivna Livach 7-5 in her second bout of the day.

A former World No.1 in the 48kg category, Vinesh was participating in her third Olympics. She missed out on a medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics due to an injury and lost to Vanesa Kaladzinskaya in the 53kg quarterfinals in the Tokyo Olympics.

Vinesh is also the first Indian woman to have won gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games.