“Sabotage” Suspected in Vinesh Phogat’s Disqualification in Paris Olympics
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Aug 7: Questions have been raised and even “sabotage” suspected over the heart-breaking disqualification of the ace woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat just when she was on the cusp of grabbing a gold or at least a silver after she reached the finals in the 50 Kgs wrestling at the on-going Paris Olympics.
The announcement of her disqualification for being 100 grams overweight – was followed by strong political reactions, with the Congress-led opposition raising questions. Ms Phogat was removed from the competition hours before she was to take on the United States’ Sarah Ann Hildebrandt in the 50-kg freestyle final on Wednesday night.
Besides the political leaders and her family members, a celebrated former boxer and BJP leader Vijender Singh also suspected “sabotage” in the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat. Claiming a “conspiracy” against India’s medal hopes by “people who are not happy to see India rise as a sporting nation,” Singh said, “I think it might be sabotage. 100 grams… you have got to be kidding me. Athletes can shed five to six kg overnight. It is difficult… but we know how to control hunger, thirst…” he said.
Mr Singh, a former Congress member, is the only Indian male boxer to win an Olympic medal. “And, when I say sabotage, I mean people who are not happy to see India rise as a sporting nation. This girl has been through so much, your heart breaks for her…” apparently hinting at the months of agitation by the ace wrestlers last year against the then Wrestling Federation of India president and BJP Member of Parliament Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual exploitation of a number of female trainee wrestlers. Still no action has been taken against him though the BJP refused him ticket to contest the last Lok Sabha elections but set up his son for the seat instead.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who expressed despair but praised Vinesh Phogat’s resilience in an encouraging post, spoke to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha and directed her to file a strong protest. He also suggested that India should explore all options for appeal.
Vinesh Phogat scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to reach the final of a wrestling event in Olympic Games. Her disqualification on the brink of a gold or silver in the Olympics has left India in shock. Though Vinesh was assured of a silver, her disqualification means that she will not win any medal in the Paris Games.
Shortly after the disqualification Mr Modi posted on X, calling Ms Phogat “a champion among champions” and urging her to “come back stronger.” “Today’s setback hurts. I wish words could express the sense of despair I am experiencing. At the same time… you epitomise resilience. It has always been your nature to take challenges head-on. We are rooting for you.”
The opposition has launched multiple attacks on the government, including a nuanced jab served up by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who called for a probe into the “technical reasons.” “There should be a thorough investigation into the technical reasons behind Vinesh Phogat not being able to take part,” he said in a post in Hindi on X, adding, “… the truth should come to the fore.”
The Prime Minister was joined by other senior members of the Indian government, including Home Minister Amit Shah, in hailing Ms Phogat’s resilience. Mr Shah, for example, said “this misfortune is an exception in her trailblazing career… am sure she will bounce back to win…” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju called Ms Phogat “a beacon of hope and pride for India.”
Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya spoke in the Lok Sabha, accompanied by protests from the opposition. Mr Mandaviya’s statement, however, raised eyebrows and several opposition MPs – including those from the Congress, the Trinamool, the Samajwadi Party – walked out.
“The government has provided all necessary assistance to Vinesh Phogat. Personal staff, including notable Hungarian coach Woller Akos and physio Ashwini Jiwan Patil, were assigned to her,” he said. “Additionally, financial assistance for other personal staff, including sparring partners and strength and conditioning experts, was provided. She received a total of ₹ 17,45,775 for the Paris Olympics.”
Dissatisfied opposition MPs started shouting slogans and pointed to the government’s conduct with the wrestlers in previous instances, and claimed the government was not taking serious action in this matter. However, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla did not allow them to speak.
Earlier, the Punjab Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann met Ms Phogat’s uncle, Mahavir Phogat, in Haryana. “… such mistakes are happening (at) such a high level. Coaches and physiotherapists are paid in lakhs… to check her weight was their work. Have they gone there for holidays?” he asked reporters after the meeting.
On X Congress MP Randeep Surjewala claimed a “conspiracy”. “140 crore Indians are shocked… this is a huge “hate conspiracy”. But know that the country is with her…” Mr Surjewala said. The Congress leader’s lengthy tweet also included detailed references to the #MeToo protest against six-time former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh against whom even a Delhi court has said there was “sufficient evidence” to proceed.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also responded, but with less controversial remarks. Mr Gandhi called the disqualification “unfortunate” while Mrs Gandhi Vadra said, “My sister… do not consider yourself alone… remember you will always be our champion.”
The most forthright comment, however, came from Vijender Singh who refused to believe it could happen without being made to happen. He said it might be a case of sabotage as elite athletes like her are well-versed with the techniques of cutting weight before major competitions.
Vijender, who is India’s first and only male boxer to have won an Olympic medal, knows a thing or two about maintaining weight before major bouts and he said it is shocking that Vinesh was 100gm over in the weigh-in before an Olympic final. “I think it might be sabotage. 100gm, you have got to be kidding me. We athletes can shed 5 to 6kg overnight. It is difficult no doubt but we know how to control our hunger, thirst, and exert to the extreme,” the middle-weight (75kg) boxer said.
“And when I say sabotage I mean people who are not happy to see India rise as a sporting nation. This girl has been through so much, your heart breaks for her. What more could she have done? Which other test?” he wondered.
“I can’t believe that Vinesh would make a mistake like this. She has been an elite athlete for so long that she knows, there has to be something more to it. I am worried for her, I hope she is fine. What has happened is not good at all,” said Vijender, a trailblazer in Indian boxing.
Athletes who compete in contact sports, where fights are held as per weight categories, have to go through the painful process of staying within their divisions. It involves going hungry for hours, avoiding even liquids and in some desperate situations, stay huddled inside layers of blankets to sweat out the extra weight.
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“There have been times when I have spat out saliva continuously so that nothing goes inside, you know. One can’t imagine this extreme exercise. There are special Sauna suits that we wear, they feel like a furnace and there are times we run wearing them to shed weight,” he explained.
It’s an extraordinary exercise that takes a physical and mental toll on athletes and in 2018, six-time world champion woman boxer M C Mary Kom, in an interview had revealed how she lost 2kg in a matter of four hours.
Mary Kom had landed in Poland for a tournament, where she eventually picked up her third gold of that year. But hours before she was to take the ring, she had gone through the strenuous process of shedding weight just to be eligible to fight.
“We landed in Poland at round 3-3:30 in the morning and the general weigh-in was at around 7:30am. I was a couple of kilograms above 48kg, the category I compete in, at that point,” she had said. “So, I had roughly four hours to shed that or I would have been disqualified for being over-weight at the time of general weigh-in. But I did skipping for an hour at a stretch and just like that, I was ready.
“Thankfully, the flight we travelled in was nearly empty so I could sleep with my legs outstretched, ensuring that I was not stiff on landing there. Otherwise, I don’t know how I would have been able to compete,” she had revealed.
Her disqualification and suspicion of sabotage could also provide the Congress and others, specially the AAP, with ammunition to attack the BJP in Haryana, the wrestler’s home state, ahead of an Assembly election later this year.
The Haryana government has urged against politicising the issue; Transport and Mines Minister Mool Chand Sharma hailed Ms Phogat as the “pride of our state…. country”. “The whole country is sad our daughter has been disqualified… but people should not do politics on this…” he said.
The Congress – hoping to oust the BJP from the state, after a strong showing the April-June Lok Sabha election – hit back through five-time MP Deepender Singh Hooda. “Our daughter worked hard to reach the finals… when athletes were practising she was sitting in protest to seek justice for Indian women in wrestling. She still made it to the finals. Where and how did things go wrong?” he asked.
Referring to the Police repression against the celebrated wrestlers including Phogat when they were staging dharna at Jantar Mantar against Brij Bhushan Singh, some other leaders suspected that some conspiracy was hatched to make her over-weight as her return to the country with the coveted Olympic medal would have forced those who dislike her to welcome her with open arms.
As the entire India sheds tears on Vinesh Phogat’s disqualification from the Paris Olympic Games, the contingent’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Dinshaw Paudiwala for the quadrennial event, shed light on the entire weight controversy. Dr Paudiwala explained that Vinesh’s weight gain was higher than expected after she finished her three bouts on Tuesday. But, it couldn’t be brought down in time despite extreme efforts.
In a video statement, Dr Paudiwala and IOC President PT Usha gave an in-depth explanation of the entire episode. Following is the full text:
“Wrestlers usually participate in a weight category less than their natural weight. It gives them an advantage since they are fighting with less stronger opponents. The process of weight cut prior to the weigh-in in the morning involves a calculated restriction of food and water.
Besides this, the athlete needs to sweat and that sweating is done with sauna and with exercise. Now this weight cut has the benefit of putting you into a lighter weight but does cause weakness and energy depletion, and this is counterproductive to participation.
So most wrestlers will thereafter go in for some amount of energy restoration with limited water and high energy foods.
These are usually given after the way in the calculation from the nutritionist, which is done is Athlete specific and Vinesh’s nutritionist felt that the usual amount that she takes is about 1.5 kilograms totally over the day, which gives enough energy for the burns.
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Sometimes there’s also a factor of a rebound weight gain following competition. Vinesh had three bouts and hence to prevent any dehydration, some amount of water had to be given.
We found that her post-participation weight was increased more than normal and the coach initiated the normal process of weight cut that he has always employed with Vinesh.
This is something that’s worked with her for a long period of time. He felt confident that this would be achieved and over the night we went ahead with the weight cut procedure. However, in the morning we found that despite all of our efforts, her weight was 100 grams over her 50 kilogram weight category and hence she was disqualified.
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We have tried all possible drastic measures throughout the night, including cutting off her hair, and shortening her clothes. And despite all of this, we could not make that 50 kg weight category following disqualification.
As a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered some intravenous fluids just to prevent dehydration and typically we get a few blood tests done just to make sure that everything is normal. So this process is going on at the local Olympic hospital here.
All of Vinesh’s parameters during this weight cut were normal, and throughout this process she actually felt perfectly normal. We just interacted with the IOA doctor and it was mentioned that although Vinesh is physically and medically perfectly normal, she’s disappointed that this is her third Olympics and she had to be disqualified.”
