Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has moved the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after her disqualification from the Women’s Freestyle 50kg final at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday.
Vinesh has reportedly asked for the silver medal to be awarded to her. The CAS verdict is likely to be delivered on Thursday.
The Indian wrestler was disqualified from the competition and lost out on a confirmed silver medal. Vinesh was supposed to take on the USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist, for the gold medal.
The 29-year-old was a little over 100 grams above the 50kg weight limit during Wednesday morning’s weigh-in at 7: 15 AM local time. Vinesh weighed 49.90 kg on Tuesday morning ahead of her first-round bout, well within the permissible limit. She, however, gained weight during the day as she secured three back-to-back wins, including one over defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki, to reach the final.
“We have to respect the rules. I’m so sad what happened to her. She was overweight, even though by a small margin but rules are rules. The weigh-in is public and all the athletes are there. It’s impossible to let someone to compete who doesn’t make the weight,” United World Wrestling (UWW) President Nenad Lalovic had said earlier on Wednesday.
More to follow…
