According to Sanjay Singh, the president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), the verdict on Vinesh Phogat’s appeal against her disqualification at the Paris Olympics is important for both the athlete and her country.
For instance, CAS took more time than expected to make its ruling because a lot is anticipated about it. This was in women’s 50kg category when she missed viesing for gold by just one hundred grams after exceeding weight limit.
Moreover, Mr. Singh hoped that India would be able to fair well in this regard. “We could have got six more medals but for disruptions in wrestling over the last 15-16 months we lost so many medals. We are hopeful that the CAS verdict will be in our favor,” said Singh in an interview with Parami adding that “WFI wants verdict to be favorable for Indian peoples cause it’s not anyone’s private medal but belongs to whole country, it should be added to india’s medal tally.”
Disqualification happened on August 7th while her final match was hours away. In fact, She had been a pioneer female Indian wrestler reaching up to finals. Phogat has petitioned CAS for a joint silver with Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez who she defeated in semis.
Just as importantly, Sanjay Singh emphasized weight management as crucial in competitive wrestling.
The sport category is an individual choice of players. However, maintaining oneself at such a weight also depends upon them. The player’s body gets affected when there is frequent change of weights within short period. Speaking about her weight, Sanjay singh said: ”Had every facility she asked for including training with foreign coach in Hungary”.
Initially set deadline August 13th; however its postponement occurred till August 16th. It can be thus deduced that procrastination by CAS has heightened anxiety and expectation among lovers of sports inside Indian soil.
Correspondingly, a favorable decision from CAS in Phogat’s case would be worth more than just an additional medal to the host nation’s tally at the Paris Olympics.
