Before Vinesh Phogat, another ‘overweight’ 50kg wrestler disqualified at Paris Olympics

New Delhi: Vinesh Phogat is gutted to have been disqualified for being overweight at weigh-in for the 50kg freestyle final. Though she isn’t the only female wrestler at Paris Olympics to have been caught overweight before her bout.

Phogat became the only Indian grappler to have qualified for a gold medal match at Olympics on Tuesday after winning three bouts but was found to be overweight by about 100 grams during weigh-in for the final on Wednesday morning.

As per rules, she was immediately disqualified, stripped her of all match records and placed at the bottom of the standings.

India lodged a formal appeal with the International Olympic Committee and United World Wrestling though not much is expected to emerge out of it.

The IOC has already decided the Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinsh in the semis, will battle in the gold medal match against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt.

Phogat’s misfortune resonates with what Italy’s Emanuela Liuzzi also endured at Paris 2024. The 24-year-old was a late entrant at the Games, securing a spot around 10 days ago following the withdrawal of North Korea’s Kim Sonhyang.

She was supposed to make her debut in the 50kg freestyle category nut was barred from the competition’s preliminary bout after weighing over the permissible limit, leading to her withdrawal even before taking the mat.

Slovakia’s Batyrbek Tsakulov (men’s freestyle 65kg) and Russia’s Danila Semenov (men’s light heavyweight 80-92kg) were also disqualified for a similar offence.

The UWW rule

“If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), he will be eliminated of the competition and ranked last, without rank,” UWW rule states.

Maintaining weight or reducing it is a difficult task for grapplers if their natural body weight is above the division they compete in.

As her natural body weight is around 56-57kg, Phogat has to put in a lot of effort to cut down to 50kg as there are no relaxations at major events like the Olympics.

Phogat went without food or water throught Tuesday night and exercised and underttok sauna in a desperate attempt to slim down to 50kg but fell short by a mere 100 grams.

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