Vinesh Phogat appeals Paris Olympics disqualification at CAS, demands joint silver, verdict today

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Wednesday appealed against her disqualification from the 50kg category Olympic finals in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), demanding that she be awarded a joint silver medal after being disqualified for being 100 gm overweight in the morning weigh-in.

An Indian Olympic Association(IOA) source in the visiting Indian contingent confirmed the development to PTI. "Yes, we got to know about it. It has been done by her team," said the source. Vinesh was disqualified after being found 100 gm overweight during the morning weigh-in.

She had to be taken to a polyclinic at the Games village owing to severe dehydration caused by her desperate measures to make the cut, which included going hungry, avoiding fluids, and staying up all night to sweat it out.

An ad-hoc division of the CAS has been set up here for resolution by arbitration of any disputes arising during the Olympic Games or a period of 10 days preceding the Opening Ceremony. The matter will be taken up on Thursday morning.

Cuban wrestler Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinals, replaced her in the final against American Sarah Ann Hildebrandt.

Hildebrandt won the bout to claim gold and Vinesh is now banking on CAS to be a joint silver-medallist with Lopez.

The rules of admission of such cases at CAS are very clear. The claimant, before filing such a request, must exhaust "all the internal remedies available to her/him pursuant to the statutes or regulations of the sports body concerned." The exception being situations where "the time needed to exhaust the internal remedies would make the appeal to the CAS Ad Hoc Division ineffective."

However, the sport's international governing body, United World Wrestling (UWW) has made it known to the IOA that the current weigh-in rule that led to the disqualification of Vinesh cannot be changed as of now. Vinesh had scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the gold medal bout in her category on Tuesday night.

She was assured of at least a silver medal before the disqualification.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)