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On Saturday, August 10, India’s campaign at the Paris Olympics 2024 ended with six medals, one silver and four bronze under its name. However, the Indians still hope for a joint silver medal for Vinesh Phogat after the latter appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after her disqualification ahead of the women’s 50kg gold medal match.
Although the International Olympic Committee Chief, Thomas Bach also said that there is no provision of two silver medals, in the latest move which comes after the CAS pushed back Vinesh Phogat’s verdict to Sunday, August 11, the United World Wrestling Chief, Nenad Lalovic also shared an important insight as far as weigh-in is concerned. Speaking exclusively to NDTV, the UWW Chief expressed sympathy over Vinesh Phogat’s incident, but clarified that the weigh-ins were public and everyone saw the result.
“I am so sorry for what happened, but no matter the size of your country, athletes are athletes. The weigh-in was public, everyone saw what happened. How can we allow someone to compete when we all saw what happened. We don’t have any other choice but to follow our rules,” the United World Wrestling Chief, Nenad Lalovic said as quoted by NDTV.
Watch Nenad Lalovic speak on Vinesh Phogat's disqualification row at Paris 2024:
Lalovic further shunned the rule change possibility, clarifying that they are helped by the medical commission, who are against any rule change. “We introduced that rule because of the care for the health of the athletes. Athletes have been obliged to weight rules in order to compete. Maybe some slight adjustments in the rules can be made, but we not changing the rules. We are counseled and helped by our medical commission. They are absolutely against any change,” he added.
It is to be noted that the gold, silver and bronze medals have already been awarded in the women’s 50kg category in wrestling, but the Indian on the contrary hope for a positive result in Vinesh Phogat’s favour. Sarah Hildebrandt from the USA beat Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who was defeated by Vinesh Phogat in the final. On the other hand, Susaki Yui of Japan defeated Oksana Livach of Ukraine by technical superiority, 10-0 to clinch the bronze medal match A, while Feng Ziqi of People’s Republic of China beat Otgonjargal Dolgorjav of Mongolia 6-0 to take a bronze in Group B.
