A billion dreams were shattered on Wednesday after wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics 2024 hours ahead of her historic gold medal match. Indian Olympics Association (IOA) released a statement and confirmed that Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics for being overweight. Phogat was supposed to fight USA's wrestler Sarah Ann Hilderbrandt for the gold medal on August 7, 2024. On Tuesday, Vinesh became the first Indian woman wrestler to qualify for the wrestling final at Olympics. With the hopes were high on Vinesh Phogat, she was unfortunately disqualified and now she will not be presented any medal as per the games rule. Now, PM Modi has fired his first reaction on Vinesh Phogat's disqualification.
PM Modi took to his X handle and wrote, "Vinesh, you are a champion among champions! You are India's pride and an inspiration for each and every Indian. Today's setback hurts. I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing. At the same time, I know that you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head on. Come back stronger! We are all rooting for you."
Why Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics?
Vinesh Phogat was roughly 100 grams over the permissible limits.. According to competition rules, Phogat will not be eligible even for a silver medal and the 50 kg will have just gold and bronze medal winners. Furthermore, Vinesh made the weight for Tuesday’s bouts but as per the rule, wrestlers have to stay within their weight category on both days of the competition.
The report further suggests that Vinesh Phogat who reached the final defying all odds, was approximately 2 kilos overweight on Tuesday night. She didn’t sleep the whole night and did everything in her capacity to meet the criteria – from jogging to skipping and cycling.