Vinesh 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.
Vinesh had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout in her category on Tuesday night. Before this morning, she was assured of at least a silver medal but will now be coming back empty-handed due to the disqualification.
Dr Dinshaw Paudiwala, the Indian Olympic team's doctor, also issued a statement as he seated alongside Usha, revealing that the team had to take the drastic measures of cutting Vinesh's hair on Tuesday night in an attempt to bring her weight down.
“Vinesh's nutritionist said that the usual amount that she takes is 1.5 kg over the day, which gives her enough energy for the bouts. Sometimes, there's a factor of rebound weight gain following competition. Vinesh had three bouts, and hence, to prevent dehydration, some amount of water had to be given. We found that (her) post-participation weight was increased more than normal,” Pardiwala said.
"The coach initiated the process of weight cut that he had always employed with Vinesh. This was something that has worked with her for a long time. He felt confident. We went ahead with the weight-cut procedure.
"However, in morning, we found despite all of our efforts, her weight was 100 grams over her 50kg weight category. And hence, she was disqualified. We had tried all possible drastic measures throughout the night, including cutting off her hair, shortening her clothes.
“Despite all of this, we couldn't make that 50kg weight category.”
Pardiwala added that Vinesh underwent a series of tests following the disqualification to ensure that her vitals are normal.
"Following disqualification, as a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration. We ran some blood tests to ensure everything is normal. This process is going on a the Olympic hospital here. All of Vinesh's parameters during this weight cut were normal.
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