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Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), Sanjay Singh blamed protesting wrestlers for India not winning enough medals in wrestling at Paris Olympics. He said that India could have won six medals in wrestling alone had it not been for disturbance and controversies in the sport.
Speaking to media Singh said, “India could have won 6 more medals in wrestling, but due to the disturbances in the sport over the last 15-16 months, we lost many medals. Last time we won 2 medals, and this time we got 1...The whole country knows that wrestling preparation was stalled for 15-16 months, and when the preparation itself was on hold, how could you expect medals?...”
He added, "If you look at it from the other angle, the protests that took place for 14-15 months disturbed the entire wrestling fraternity. Let alone one category, the wrestlers in other categories struggled as they could not practice without national and international tournaments. Hence, the wrestlers could not perform well,"
Out of six medals won by India at the Paris Olympics, the Wrestling contingent bagged only one medal courtesy of Aman Sehrawat. While Aman were impressive in Paris, other wrestlers like Anshu Malik (57kg), Reetika Hooda (76kg), Nisha Dahiya (68kg) and Antim Panghal (53kg) failed to leave an impact. Vinesh on the other hand is waiting for CAS to decide on her medal after getting disqualified from her event.
CAS Verdict on Vinesh Phogat
India will be hoping that Vinesh Phogat gets an Olympic with CAS all set to give it's verdict on her appeal on August 16. Originally the CAS was supposed to give its verdict on Vinesh case on Tuesday, August 13. Vinesh was all set to contest in gold medal bout against Sarah Ann Hildebrandt of the United States.
However she was disqualified on the day of the event for being overweight. Following her disqualification, Phogat had on August 7 requested CAS to award her the silver medal. A day after her disqualification, Vinesh also announced her decision to retire from wrestling.
