Vinesh Phogat after yesterday's semifinals.
Credit: PTI Photo
India was in a state of disbelief after Vinesh Phogat's shocking disqualification ahead of her 50kg wrestling final as people from all walks of life expressed their disappointment and frustration at the huge setback, calling it "cruel" and "biggest heartbreak" of the Paris Olympics.
Phogat was disqualified on Wednesday from the Olympics after being found overweight ahead of her women's 50kg final here, leaving her medal-less within hours of coming close to an unparalleled gold.
Leading up to the disqualification, Phogat had used up every measure should could to drop her weight into the limit. According to Sportstar, a member of her camp revealed, "After the semifinals last night, her weight was 52.7kg. She didn’t sleep even a minute, didn’t drink a sip of water, and didn’t have a morsel of food. She spent the entire night running and using the sauna. She made it to 50.1kg but didn’t have time to cut the last 100 grams. There was no leeway and no extra time to make weight.”
Hindustan Times reported that the wrestler had gone to the extreme of cutting off her hair and drawing blood from herself to drop the excess weight, but in vain.
The Haryana wrestler, having been dropped from the 53 kg category to the 50 kg category, had been struggling to maintain the weight throughout the Olympics campaign.
The member from her camp stated, "Her normal weight is 57kg, and she did everything to get down to 50kg,” while speaking to Sportstar. “She was 49.9kg yesterday (Tuesday) morning, but the moment she had even a small meal, her weight bounced back to at least 53kg. She had to reach this weight to have the strength to fight in three bouts.”
The Indian Express reported that even during the Olympic qualifiers, Phogat had narrowly made the weight cut.
(With PTI Inputs)