India wrestler loses an Olympic medal over her weight : NPR

Vinesh Phogat of Crew India (in pink) defeated a trio of present or former champions on Tuesday — however after failing to make weight for her 50-kilogram bout on Wednesday, she was disqualified from the gold medal match on the Paris Olympics. She’s seen right here after her win over Yusneylis Guzman Lopez of Crew Cuba in Paris.

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Vinesh Phogat’s dream of successful India’s first gold medal on the Paris Olympics resulted in what for wrestlers is a nightmare situation: She didn’t make weight for the ladies’s 50-kilogram class closing. After initially successful an opportunity for a gold or silver medal, her disqualification means she’s going to depart France and not using a medal of any kind.

Phogat was discovered to be 100 grams over the restrict — about 3.5 ounces, just like a deck of playing cards — in line with the Indian Olympic Affiliation. After having three bouts on Tuesday, her weight was discovered to have elevated a bit greater than regular, the affiliation’s chief medical officer, Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, mentioned on Wednesday.

Phogat had a profitable weigh-in on Tuesday morning, Pardiwala mentioned, and her nutritionist calculated that she might have round 1 1/2 kilograms of water and meals. She additionally drank small quantities of water after her matches.

However when employees checked her weight, it was over the restrict. The athlete’s common methods for reducing weight weren’t profitable, Pardiwala mentioned.

“We had tried all potential drastic measures all through the night time, together with reducing off her hair, shortening her garments,” Pardiwala mentioned. However to no avail.

It was a merciless strategy to finish what had gave the impression to be a charmed run to the gold medal match, as Phogat delivered a string of victories over extremely ranked opponents. After two heartbreaking Olympics — a horrible knee harm ended her Rio 2016 marketing campaign, and a surprising upset ousted her in Tokyo — she was lastly on observe to win the medal many have seen as her future.

Her disqualification “could be very surprising,” mentioned Indian Olympic Affiliation President PT Usha, who met with Phogat within the Olympic Village on Wednesday.

“We’re offering Vinesh all medical and emotional assist,” Usha mentioned, including that India’s wrestling federation has filed an enchantment asking that the disqualification be reconsidered.

An Olympic medal would have been one thing of a salve to a 12 months of turmoil in India’s wrestling neighborhood. Final summer time, Phogat took on a distinguished position in high-profile protests in opposition to sexual harassment, as she and different prime wrestlers known as for motion in opposition to then-Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Singh, an influential politician who was additionally as soon as the president of the Wrestling Federation of India.

Vinesh Phogat (heart) and different elite Indian wrestlers have been detained by the police in New Delhi final 12 months as they protested in opposition to Brij Bhushan Singh, who was then the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation.

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As NPR reported final 12 months, Singh was “accused by the nation’s seven most high-profile wrestlers, together with a minor, of groping them, stalking them, demanding sexual favors and threatening them in the event that they refuse to entertain his advances.”

Singh has denied the allegations. Within the New Delhi protests in opposition to him, Phogat and different elite athletes have been confronted by police who dragged them away and detained them.

After Wednesday’s abrupt elimination derailed Phogat’s probability for an Olympic medal, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned through X, “Vinesh, you’re a champion amongst champions! You’re India’s pleasure and an inspiration for each Indian.”

Acknowledging a “sense of despair” over the end result, Modi added, “On the similar time, I do know that you just epitomise resilience. It has all the time been your nature to take challenges head on.”

On the Paris Video games, Phogat defeated a roster of champions in a single day to earn a spot in opposition to Crew USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt in Wednesday’s closing. In her first match, she upset the reigning Olympic champion, Yui Susaki of Japan. She then beat former European champion Oksana Livach of Ukraine within the quarterfinals and Pan American Video games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba within the semifinals.

Due to Phogat’s disqualification, Guzman was elevated to the ultimate to face Hildebrandt. The American gained the gold.

Phogat comes from a household well-known for its feminine wrestlers: her cousins’ story impressed the Bollywood movie Dangal, from Walt Disney’s India subsidiary. She has additionally spoken out in favor of empowering ladies and giving them extra assist to pursue sports activities.

She informed The Hindu information outlet in 2018, “most significantly, ladies want to face up for what they wish to do. It’s not nearly sports activities — even in any other case, in schooling or in life, ladies must cease feeling pity for themselves or contemplating themselves weak. It’s a must to have the energy of perception in your self. Step one needs to be taken by a lady herself; the whole lot else follows.”

When she’s injury-free, Phogat racked up wins on the mat from an early age. She took bronze on the world championships and prime titles on the Commonwealth Video games and the Asian championships. Her outcomes, typically in weight classes a bit heavier than 50kg, have lengthy fueled hopes for Olympic greatness that, due to round 100 grams, now stay unfulfilled.