‘Support staff should take responsibility’: WFI demands action for Vinesh Phogat disqualification

New Delhi: Disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from Paris Olympics 50kg freestyle wrestling final wasn’t her fault but the failure of her support staff, Wrestling Federation of India’s president Sanjay Singh on Wednesday.

He demanded action against them, noting that such a blunder at the biggest stage of Olympics is unacceptable.

During her weigh-in for the gold medal match against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt, Vinesh was found overweight by 100-150 grams, resulting in automatic disqualification as per rules.

The International Olympic Committee then decided that Cuba’s Guzman Lopez Yusnelis, who lost to Vinesh in the semis, will be upgraded to face Hildebrandt in the title round clash.

Vinesh has trained with her personal coach Woller Akos since 2018, Under the Belgian, the 29-year-old had grabbed two World Championship bronze medals. South African mental conditioning coach Wayne Lombard was also attached during Paris 2024.

“It is not a fault of Vinesh. She was performing amazingly. The coaches, the support staff, the physios and the nutritionists should take full responsibility,” Sanjay Singh told PTI.

“They should have paid attention to her all the time to ensure nothing of this sort happens. How this happened and how she went over the weight limit must be looked into.

“I request the Government of India to take action against all those responsible,” he said.

Only UWW certified coaches to be approved

Singh also said that from now on the WFI will approve only UWW certified coaches to train Indian wrestlers.

“The Wrestling Federation of India will try their best to hire coaches who have cleared the level 1 and level two courses of the UWW,” he said.

“We will also ensure that the wrestlers practice with the coaches of WFI and officials of the UWW so that such episodes never happen ever again,” he said.

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 WFI president Sanjay Singh demanded action against Vinesh Phogat’s support staff, noting that such a blunder of she becoming overeight before her 50kg final at Paris Olympics is unacceptable.  Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today