Vinesh Phogat's hopes of winning a gold medal at the Olympics were shattered.© X (Twitter)
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat's hopes of winning a gold medal at the Olympics were shattered on Wednesday after she was disqualified from the women's 50kg event. Vinesh, who was set to compete for gold medal, was qualified for being a few grams overweight on the morning of her bout. Vinesh was eligible to compete on Day 1 after she made the weight. However, as per the rules, a wrestler must meet the weight limit on both the days.
If the wrestler is found overweight, they have 25 minutes to reduce it by doing cycling, running, sauna, etc. It has been learnt that Vinesh didn't sleep the entire night and also didn't eat anything.
Who will win gold and other medals?
Vinesh's disqualification means she won't even win a silver. USA's Sarah Ann Hildebrandt, who was Vinesh's opponent for the final, will walk away with the gold medal.
In fact, there won't be any silver medal for the Women's 50 kg event. In this case, one gold and two bronze medals will be awarded. One bronze will be awarded to the one of the the wrestlers who lost her semi-finals bout, while the other will be awarded to the wrestler who wins the repechage round.
What is a repechage round?
In wrestling, the athletes who lose to the two finalists are pulled into the repechage round to fight for the bronze medal.
Following Vinesh's disqualification, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) urged everyone to respect the wrestler's privacy.
"It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the Women's Wrestling 50kg class. Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50kg this morning. No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests you respect Vinesh's privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand," the IOA said in a statement.
Vinesh had defied the odds to become the first Indian woman to reach the final of a wrestling event at the Olympics.
She began her big by ousting defending champion Yui Susaki who had never lost a bout in her international career and is a four-time world champion.
Having tackled her toughest opponent in the competition, the Indian then beat eighth seed Oksana Livach of Ukraine to secure a berth in the semi-finals of the women's 50kg freestyle event.
In the semifinals, Vinesh got the better of Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez to secure a medal and become the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final at the Olympics.