Vinesh Phogat disqualified, not defeated

Credit: Vox

The Court of Arbitration(CAS) for Sport has dismissed the Indian athlete Vinesh Phogat’s application filled at the CAS Ad hoc Division in relation to the decision taken by United World Wrestling(UWW) to replace her, because of her failed second weigh-in before the final of the Women's Freestyle 50kg competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 resulting the decision by the UWW confirmed stated the Media Release by the CAS on Wednesday (14 August). 

Vinesh Phogat after her victory with a score of 5 to 0 at the semi-finals against Yusneylis Guzman from Cuba on the 6 August was disqualified the following day as the Indian failed the weight-in on day two of the competition and the UWW by protocol promoted Yusneylis Guzman to the final of the 50 kg Women's Freestyle at the Olympics.

The Application filed an appeal to the CAS Ad hoc Division annulling the Challenged Decision and ordering another weigh-in before the final match as well as a declaration that she be declared eligible and qualified to participate in the final. However, she did not request urgent interim measures. The CAS Ad hoc Division procedure is fast, but it was not possible for a decision on the merits to be issued within an hour, bearing in mind that the Respondent UWW would have had to be heard first. The procedure is, however, ongoing and the Applicant has confirmed that she seeks the annulment of the Challenged Decision and that she requests to be awarded a (shared) silver medal stated the Media Release of the CAS on the day of disqualification.

Credit: News18

The UWW disqualified Phogat according to Article 11 of the International Wrestling Rule which states “If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), she/he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without Followed by the rule “If one (or more) athletes qualified for the repechages and/or finals don’t attend or fail the weigh-in, the athlete(s) (who successfully passed the second weigh-in) will move to the next round in his(their) part of the bracket”.Under these regulations, Guzman participated for gold and on the other hand, Vinesh's results were disqualified, followed by the 50 kg bronze medal competed by Yui Susaki of Japan and Oksana Livach of Ukraine.

“Vinesh was found to be 100 grams over her 50kg weight category, and hence, she was disqualified. All possible drastic measures, including cutting off her hair, were used. However, she was not below her allowed weight of 50kg” mentioned in the statement of Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, the Chief Medical Officer of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

The statement also mentioned, “Though she is physically and medically perfectly normal, she is disappointed with her disqualification”.

Post the disqualification on 8 August Phogat announced her retirement on the social media platform X