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New Delhi: Indian female wrestler Vinesh Phogat missed out on creating history at the Paris Olympics. Vinesh Phogat was disqualified before the gold medal match of women's 50 kg freestyle wrestling.
This is because Vinesh Phogat's weight was found to be 100 grams more on the day of the final bout. The wrestler had appealed to CAS challenging this result. The decision in Vinesh's silver medal case is expected on Tuesday. It is worth noting that United World Wrestling had opposed Vinesh's petition citing the rules.
lacunae in the rules
However, the decision may come in Vinesh's favour as a loophole has been found in the UWW rules. According to a report in Revsports, the wrestling unit suggested that Vinesh's 100 gram weight cannot be ignored. As per the rule, no exception can be provided to Vinesh. Therefore, Vinesh Phogat cannot get the silver medal.
Then a flaw in the rules of UWW came to light. According to the UWW rules, the wrestler who reaches the repechage is defeated by the finalist. In the 50 kg freestyle wrestling final, Yui Susaki of Japan was given a chance to play in the bronze medal match under the repechage round.
Why did Suski get the chance?
Now if we look at the rules, Vinesh was not a finalist because she was disqualified from the gold medal match due to overweight. The final match was played between Cuba's Yusnelis Guzman and America's Sarah Hildebrand. So on what basis was Suski allowed to fight in the repechage?
India has an opportunity to count
If the rules are to be believed, Suski should not have been allowed to play the repechage, but UWW allowed it. If the rules are to be believed, Vinesh was eliminated on the basis of the rules and in such a situation Suski should not have been allowed to be a part of the repechage. But this did not happen.
With the UWW rules being found to be lacking, it remains to be seen how the Indian camp brings the matter to the fore when the final hearing of the CAS will take place. The decision will be announced after that.
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