It was a cruel twist of fate for Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat whose prime focus was to win an Olympic Medal for India at Paris 2024. The dream was shattered on Wednesday, August 6th after she was disqualified ahead of the Gold Medal bout in the Women’s 50kg Wrestling event. The entire nation consoled the athlete through messages on social media.
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In this article we try and figure out if any Indian Olympic athletes have been disqualified before the final bout in Olympics in the past.
Has any Indian athlete faced disqualification before in Olympics over Weight Issues?
Ahead of the bout, Phogat tried everything in her capacity to lose weight, but she fell short by over 100 grams on the morning of her match. Courtesy of the disqualification, Vinesh became the first Indian athlete to be disqualified from her final for not making weight. No other Indian athlete in the past has ever got any disqualification due to weight issues in any sport they played at Olympics.
Yusneylis Lopez named Vinesh Phogat replacement for Gold Medal bout
Paris 2024 organisers in their statement said : “Vinesh failed second day weigh-in. According to the article 11 of the International Wrestling Rules, Vinesh will be replaced by the wrestler who lost against her in the Semifinal. Therefore Yusneylis Guzman Lopez (Cuba) will compete in the Final while Yui Susaki (Japan) and Oksana Livach (Ukraine) will play in the bronze medal match.
Vinesh Phogat, earlier had became the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the Olympic Games with a convincing 5-0 win over Cuba's Yusneylis Guzman Lopez on Tuesday.
