New Delhi: Ace Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s dreams for an Olympics medal was shattered on Wednesday after her disqualification from the women’s 50kg freestyle event at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Just on the day she was set to compete for the gold medal bout, the 29-year-old was barred from the competition after failing to meet the weight standard. She was 150 grams above her weight category of 50kg limit.
Vinesh won’t be eligible for a silver medal as the rules of the United World Wrestling (UWW) suggests that if athlete fails or doesn’t attend the weigh-in then he or she will be eliminated from the competition and ranked as last.
The wrestler from Haryana is the latest lot of Indian Olympians who came very close to winning a medal but missed the opportunity.
Here are some of the other instances where Indian athletes were close but couldn’t make their way for a podium finish.
Manu Bhaker (25m pistol)
Manu Bhaker could have been the first Indian to bag three medals at a single edition of the Olympics. However, a fourth-place finish in the women’s 25m pistol final denied the 22-year-old Indian that milestone.
Manu dropped two points in the shoot-off against Hungary’s Veronika Major after both were tied at third place in the main round.
Mixed skeet team
Indian shooters Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka settled for fourth place in the mixed team skeet event by a whisker. The Indian pair narrowly went down 43-44 to China’s Jiang Yiting and Lyu Jianlin.
Arjun Babuta (10m air rifle)
Arjun Babuta finished fourth in the men’s 10m rifle final with a score of 208.4 points from 20 shots. He was in the top 3 until the 18th shot when he hit 10.1 and thus slipped to fourth spot. He was eventually eliminated after the 20th shot.
Lakshya Sen
The Indian youngster’s tremendous campaign at the Paris Olympics couldn’t reap rewards. A day after losing to reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, Lakshya went down to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 21-13, 16-21, 11-21 in the bronze medal playoff.
Despite pocketing the first game with an intesive display, Lakshya failed to find the answers of Lee’s thunderbolt smashes and lost his rhythm in the mentime.
Mixed Team Archery
Indian archers Dhiraj Bommadevara and Ankita Bhakat lost the bronze medal match of mixed team to American duo of Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison 6-2. Dhiraj was spot on with his 10s and 9s but Ankita Bhakat’s below-the-par performance cost the team a podium finish.
Ace Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat’s dreams for an Olympics medal was shattered on Wednesday after her disqualification from the women’s 50kg freestyle event at the Paris Olympics 2024. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
