New Delhi: A day after being disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024 for being slightly overweight ahead of her gold medal match, Vinesh Phogat has announced her retirement from wrestling. Vinesh took to X to announce that she wouldn’t be continuing any further and that she lost her battle to ‘mother wrestling’. On Tuesday, Vinesh became the first Indian woman to reach an Olympic final in wrestling.
She was on the cup of scripting history as she was one win away from becoming the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Olympics. However, her dreams were left shattered after she couldn’t make her weight during the weigh-in ahead of her final in the women’s 50kg freestyle category on Wednesday morning. Vinesh was disqualified from the tournament for being 100 grams over the allowed limit.
The heartbreaking twist of fate saw her being stripped of her confirmed silver medal while placing her in the last rank in her category. As per wrestling rules, any athlete who is disqualified from any competition is placed last and is not awarded any ranking while also being stripped of any medal. The news of Vinesh’s disqualification left the entire nation in shock.
“Wrestling won match against me, I lost… Your dreams and my courage are shattered. I don’t have any more strength now. Goodbye Wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be indebted to all of you. Sorry,” she wrote on X, announcing her retirement.
माँ कुश्ती मेरे से जीत गई मैं हार गई माफ़ करना आपका सपना मेरी हिम्मत सब टूट चुके इससे ज़्यादा ताक़त नहीं रही अब।
अलविदा कुश्ती 2001-2024 🙏
आप सबकी हमेशा ऋणी रहूँगी माफी 🙏🙏
— Vinesh Phogat (@Phogat_Vinesh) August 7, 2024
It was a day to forget for Vinesh and the Indian contingent at the Paris Olympics on Wednesday as the wrestler was denied an opportunity to fight for the gold medal despite having stormed into the final after recording three back-to-back stunning victories, including a win against the ‘undefeated’ 4-time world champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the pre-quarters.
Having confirmed her place in the final, Vinesh was assured of at least a silver medal and was scheduled to face USA’s Sarah Ann Hildebrandt in the gold medal match. However, she failed her mandatory weigh-in before the final leading to her disqualification. The 29-year-old and her team tried their best and adopted extreme measures for weight cut, including no water intake, taking blood out of her body and cutting her hair.
However, nothing worked as Vinesh still failed to make her weight. She even had to be admitted to the polyclinic at the Games village due to dehydration caused by the extreme measures the wrestler took in order to reduce her weight overnight after playing three matches on the trot on Tuesday.
Vinesh Phogat challenges IOC’s decision in CAS
Hours after being disqualified ahead of her final, Vinesh appealed against her disqualification by the International Olympic Council (IOC) in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). Vinesh in her plea demanded she be awarded the joint silver medal for making it to the final while being in the required weight. The matter will be heard by an ad-hoc division of the CAS on Thursday, July 08.
Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling on Thursday, hours a day after being disqualified from Paris Olympics 2024 which saw her miss out on a medal. Vinesh said her courage has been shattered and she has no more strength left to continue. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
