TOI Sports Desk
As a result of her disqualification, Vinesh will finish last in the final standings of the women’s 50kg freestyle event in Paris.Cuba’s Yusneylis Lopez, who Vinesh defeated in the semifinal, will take the Indian’s place in the gold-medal match against USA’s Sarah HildeBrandt.
Here’s what Dr. Pardiwala said in a video shared by the Sports Authority of India:
“Wrestlers usually participate in a weight category less than their natural weight. It gives them an advantage because they are fighting against less stronger opponents. The process of weight-cut prior to the weigh-in in the morning involves a calculated restriction of food and water, and besides this the athlete needs to sweat, and that sweating is done with sauna and exercise.”
“This weight-cut has the benefit of putting you in a lighter weight category but does cause weakness and energy depletion; and this is counter-productive to participation. So most wrestlers thereafter will go for some amount of energy restoration with limited water and high-energy foods, and these are usually given after the weigh-in.”
“The calucation done by the nutritionist is athlete-specific; and Vinesh’s nutriotionist felt that the usual amount she takes is about 1.5 kg in total over the day, which gives her enough energy for the bouts. Sometimes there is also factor of a rebound weight gain following competition.”
“Vinesh had three bouts (on Tuesday) and hence to prevent any dehydration some amount of water had to be given. We found that her post-participation weight 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 has worked with her over a long period of time. He was confident that this would be achieved and overnight we went ahead with the weight-cut procedure.”
“However, in the morning we found that despite all of our efforts, her weight was 100gm over her 50kg category and hence she was disqualified.”
“We had tried all drastic measures throughout the night, including cutting her hair, shortening her clothes. Despite all of this, we could not make that 50kg weight category.”
“Following disqualification as a precautionary measure, Vinesh was administered some introvenous fluids just to prevent dehydration and typically we get a few blood tests done just to make sure everything is normal. So this process is going on here at the local Olympic hospital.”
“All of Vinesh’s parameters during this weight-cut were normal and throughout this process she actually felt perfectly normal.”
“Vinesh just interacted with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president, PT Usha, and mentioned that although she is physically and medically perfectly normal, she is disappointed that this is her third Olympics and she was disqualified.”
WFI filed an appeal to UWW, says PT Usha
The IOA president said that the Wrestling Federation of India has appealed Vinesh’s disqualification with UWW, the world body of wrestling responsible for the competition at the Paris Games.
“The Wrestling Federation of India has filed an appeal to UWW to reconsider the decision to disqualify Vinesh, and the IOA is following it in the strongest possible manner. I am aware of the relentless effort made by Vinesh’s medical team led by Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala and Chef de Mission Gagan Narang through the night to ensure that she could meet the competition requirements,” said the IOA chief.