Vinesh Phogat’s CAS hearing postponed as wait to learn Indian wrestler’s Olympic fate gets longer

Vinesh Phogat’s CAS hearing postponed as wait to learn Indian wrestler’s Olympic fate gets longer

New Delhi: Vinesh Phogat’s Olympic final disqualification hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport has reportedly been postponed.

The reason for the postponement is unknown. The hearing was initially scheduled to begin at 1.30 pm IST (10 am local time) on Friday but reports say it has been pushed to 5:30 pm IST (2 PM local time).

A day after scripting history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to enter the Olympic final, Vinesh was disqualified on the morning of her gold medal bout after being found overweight by just over 100 grams.

Robbed of a chance to get a historic gold, the Indian wrestler challenged the decision at the Court of Arbitration of Sports (CAS), filing two appeals on Wednesday and subsequently announcing retirement from wrestling.

Following the shocking decision, Wrestling Federation of India (WF) President Sanjay Singh urged Vinesh to reconsider her decision.

Can Salve salvage Vinesh’s pride?

The CAS, the highest court to judge on sporting disputes, accepted one of her pleas on Thursday and asked her to hire a lawyer for a hearing on August 9, Friday. Of the two appeals, CAS rejected the one where she wanted to participate in the gold medal bout on Thursday. The court, however, accepted her second plea of wanting a joint silver medal and scheduled a hearing on Friday.

The Indian government sent renowned lawyer Harish Salve to plead Phogat’s case at the CAS, which had allowed the wrestler’s camp to get an Indian lawyer for which they pushed the hearing to Friday.

Earlier, Vinesh’s uncle Mahavir Phogat had expressed hope that the court would give a decision in their favour.

“Our hopes have increased and we hope that the court will give a decision in our favour. The federation has hired a very good lawyer. We are very hopeful,” Mahavir Phogat told ANI.

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 The CAS, the highest court to judge on sporting disputes, accepted Vinesh Phogat’s appeal on Thursday and asked her to lawyer up for a hearing on August 9, Friday  Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today