New Delhi: Senior lawyer Harish Salve has debunked former wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s claims that she didn’t receive enough support from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) during her appeal against her disqualification from the Paris Olympics 2024. Vinesh was disqualified from the Olympics on the day of her gold medal bout in the women’s 50kg freestyle category after failing to make weight.
Vinesh challenged the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s decision in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), demanding a joint silver for making it to the final while being in the stipulated weight category. However, her appeal was rejected by the court. Salve, who represented IOA in her case, has revealed that Vinesh was offered a chance to challenge CAS’ decision but she decided against it.
Vinesh was disqualified after failing her final weigh-in on the morning ahead of her gold medal match. She stormed into the final after registering three back-to-back wins on her first day at the Games but was relegated to the last spot after getting disqualified. Following her disqualification, French pro bono lawyers in Paris filed the appeal on behalf of her in the CAS.
Recently, Vinesh made some sensational claims against the IOA and IOA president PT Usha in an interview. The former wrestler alleged a lack of support from IOA and said Usha took a picture with her without her permission and posted it on social media. She also alleged leniency from the lawyers which resulted in her appeal being rejected by CAS.
Lawyer Harish Salve debunks Vinesh Phogat’s claims
Senior lawyer Salve, who represented IOA in the case, rubbished Vinesh’s claims and revealed there was a lack of coordination between the IOA-appointed lawyers and the former wrestler’s legal team in Paris. Salve also revealed that IOA urged Vinesh to challenge CAS’ decision in the Swiss Tribunal. However, the former wrestler didn’t want to appeal.
“There was a complete lack of coordination, lack of cohesion for quite some time initially. That’s because the very good law firm which had been engaged by the Indian Olympic Association was told by some lawyers who the athlete had engaged that ‘we will not share anything with you, we will not give anything to you. It was very late we got everything,” Salve told Times Now.
“Later on, we got everything and we fought hard. In fact, I even offered that lady that maybe we can challenge it in the Swiss court of appeal against the arbitration award but I was told by the lawyers that my impression is she didn’t want to carry this any further,” he added.
Vinesh announced her retirement from wrestling a day after being disqualified from the Paris Olympics. The former wrestler was given a hero’s welcome back home after returning home despite missing out on a medal at the Games. Vinesh recently confirmed her entry into politics after joining the Indian National Congress (INC) and will contest from Julana in the Jind district in the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls.
Lawyer Harish Salve, who represented IOA in Vinesh Phogat’s case against her disqualification, debunked the former wrestler’s claims that IOA lawyes showed leniency during the proceedings and revealed she didn’t want to challege CAS’ verdict. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
