Paris: In a setback for Indian wrestling, Vinesh Phogat has been disqualified from the 50kg freestyle wrestling event at the Paris Olympics due to being slightly overweight. Despite her impressive performance leading up to the final, she was found to be a few grams over the weight limit during the official weigh-in this morning.
The Indian Olympics Association confirmed that despite the team’s best efforts to address the issue overnight, Phogat exceeded the 50kg limit by a small margin. This disqualification occurred after Phogat had successfully advanced through several rounds, including a notable victory over World No.1 and Tokyo 2020 champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the early rounds.
She then defeated Ukraine’s Oksana Livach 7-5 in the quarter-finals and went on to beat Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez to become the first Indian woman wrestler to reach an Olympic final.
In other events, Antim Panghal was defeated by Turkey’s Zynep Yetgil with a score of 10-0 in the women’s 53kg freestyle wrestling category.
Meanwhile, in the women’s 100m hurdles, Jyothi Yarraji progressed to the repechage round after finishing seventh in her initial heat.
