Paris, France, August 7, 2024: Vinesh Phogat, from NOC of India in women’s freestyle 50kg, failed the weigh-in on day two of her competition which has forced United World Wrestling to promote Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (CUB) to the final of 50kg at the Paris Olympics. She will take on Sarah Hildebrandt (USA) in the final, UWW reported on Wednesday.
The Times of India said that Vinesh had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout in the event 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.
"She was found overweight by 100gm this morning. The rules do not allow this and she has been disqualified," said an Indian coach.
The Indian Olympic Association later confirmed the development and requested privacy for the wrestler, who was competing in her third Olympics.
"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," the IOA stated.
"No further comments will be made by the contingent at this time. The Indian team requests you to respect Vinesh's privacy. It would like to focus on the competitions on hand," it added.
The 29-year-old Vinesh had taken down defending champion Yui Susaki of Japan en route to the final on Tuesday in a remarkable performance and was to face American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt in the final on Wednesday evening.
United World Wrestling’s statement said:
According to Article 11 of the International Wrestling Rules:
a) If an athlete does not attend or fail the weigh-in (the 1st or the 2nd weigh-in), she/he will be eliminated from the competition and ranked last, without rank.
b) If one (or more) athletes qualified for the repechages and/or finals don’t attend or fail the weigh-in, the athlete(s) (who successfully passed the second weigh-in) will move to the next round in his (their) part of the bracket.
Under these rules, Guzman will wrestle for gold while the 50kg will have one less round of repechage and Vinesh's results will be disqualified.
The 50kg bronze medal bout will be between Susaki of Japan and Livach (Ukraine).