India’s Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics on Wednesday after she failed to make the weight for women’s 50kg final. Vinesh was found a little over 100 grams above the permissible weight limit on the morning of her gold medal bout against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt.
On the same day, Antim Panghal, the Indian wrestler in women’s 53kg, lost via technical superiority in the opening round to Turkey’s Zeynep Yetgil.
Contrary to reports circulating online, Vinesh did not lose in a 53kg final National selection trial.
LIVE UPDATES | Court of Arbitration for Sport’s verdict on Vinesh Phogat’s appeal expected soon
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA)-appointed ad-hoc committee - a three-member panel headed by its Executive Committee member Bhupinder Singh Bajwa and comprising Olympic gold medallist hockey player M.M. Somaya and former National champion shuttler Manjusha Kanwar - which conducted trials for the Asian Championships and Asian Olympic Qualifiers in March this year. The winner would go on to compete in the Asian Olympic Qualifiers and runner-up at the Asian Championships. Since Antim had already won a quota for the Olympics in the Women’s 53kg category by winning a bronze at the 2023 World Championships, the 53kg winner of the trials was set to compete only in the Asian Championships. The ad-hoc committee had also decided that the top four wrestlers in every class, including the women’s 53kg category, would compete among themselves at a later date in order to determine a challenger for the quota-winners to decide on the Olympic spot. In wrestling, like many other Olympic sports, the quota belongs to the National Olympic Committee and not the individual.
Vinesh had asked the ad-hoc committee to give in writing that there would be a final selection trial for 53kg post all the qualifiers. But ad-hoc committee refused to give in writing. Vinesh, expressing doubts about Wrestling Federation of India’s commitment to hold a selection trial on a later day, then insisted on participating in two weight categories -- 50 and 53kg. The ad-hoc committee, making an exception, went against the conventional norm and allowed Vinesh to compete in both categories upon the later’s insistence.
She won the trials in 50kg, earning the right to compete at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Bishkek. She also reached the semifinals of the women’s 53kg category, thereby becoming eligible to be part of another selection trial to challenge Antim on a later date. Vinesh offered no defence in her 10-0 loss to Anju in the semifinals since her purpose of competing at the trials was already accomplished.
On March 18, the IOA dissolved the ad-hoc committee and on May 21, the WFI announced that there will be no selection trials for the quota winners after players like Aman Sehrawat appealed to the federation. “By the time trials are finished, the Olympics will be almost there, so when do we start preparations? In my opinion, trials should not be held,” Aman said.
Addressing the media, WFI President Sanjay Singh said “Five wrestlers (except Vinesh) had written to the WFI requesting exemption from trials. The selection committee decided not to conduct the trials and send the quota winners to Paris.”
Earlier, the quota-winners were allowed to compete at the Olympic Games as per the WFI selection policy of that time and no selection trials were held to pick the squad for the 2016 Rio and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, in 2022, the federation introduced the concept of a final selection trial even after quotas are earned to check the form and fitness of the quota-winners.
For the 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 Asian Games, the federation conducted selections trials to determine the squad but at its discretion, it also exempted people from the same or gave them a chance to compete directly from the semifinals considering their past achievements. Vinesh got the benefit of this rule when she was selected for the Hangzhou Asian Games without a trial. Antim, who won the selection trial, was kept as her reserve. Vinesh pulled out due to an ACL injury and Antim was chosen as her replacement. She went on to win the bronze medal in Hangzhou.
Here’s the timeline of how things unfolded:
Timeline
August 23, 2023: United World Wrestling (UWW), the global governing body for the sport, provisionally suspends the WFI after the national federation failed to hold its elections in time owing to the wrestlers’ protest against former president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who faced several allegations, including that of sexual harassment.
December 21, 2023: WFI successfully conducts elections where Sanjay Singh, a close associate of Brij Bhushan, is elected as president, beating former Commonwealth Champion Anita Sheoran by 40 votes to 7.
December 24, 2023: The Union Sports Ministry suspends WFI and asks IOA to form an ad-hoc body to run the sport in the country.
February 13, 2024: The UWW Bureau decides to lift the suspension imposed by it upon WFI under certain conditions.
March 7, 2024: The Delhi High Court – acting on a plea by some prominent wrestlers including Bajrang Punia, Vinesh and Sakshi Malik – rules on March 7 that the IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee would conduct the trials. The ad-hoc committee had fixed the dates for selection trials for the Asian Championships and Asian Olympic Games qualifier in Bishkek for March 10 and 11 in Sonepat (men) and Patiala (women). Earlier, after the WFI’s suspension was lifted by UWW on February 13, the national body had also announced the same dates for trials in Delhi.
March 8, 2024: UWW makes it clear that it would receive entries only from its affiliated national body, the Wrestling Federation of India and not the IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee.
March 9, 2024: After UWW’s communication, the ad-hoc committee – which had earlier decided to consider only the wrestlers who had competed in the National Championships conducted by it in Jaipur apart from some wrestlers who performed well in 2022 and 2023 for the trials – and the WFI prepare a combined list for the trials, and included participants from the WFI-organised Pune Nationals, earlier not recognised by the Government.
The ad-hoc committee, based on the WFI’s amended 2022 Selection Policy, decides that the top four wrestlers in every class would compete among themselves on June 10 in order to determine a challenger for the Olympic-quota winners to pick the final Olympic squad.
March 11, 2024: Vinesh, expressing doubts about WFI’s commitment to hold a selection trial on a later day, insisted on participating in two weight categories -- 50 and 53kg. The ad-hoc committee, making an exception, allowed Vinesh to compete in both categories upon the later’s insistence.
She won the trials in 50kg, earning the right to compete at the Asian Olympic qualifiers in Bishkek. She needed to reach the semifinals of the women’s 53kg category to feature in the top four to challenge Antim at a later date. Vinesh offered no defence in her 10-0 loss to Anju in the semifinals since her purpose of competing at the trials was already accomplished.
March 18, 2024: IOA dissolves the ad-hoc committee, saying “there is no further need” for it to continue after revocation of the suspension on the national federation by UWW.
April 20, 2024: Vinesh wins quota in 50kg for Paris 2024 during the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Bishkek.
April 24, 2024: “After the Istanbul event (World Olympic Games Qualifiers), we will decide whether to conduct trials for the Olympics. The selection committee will decide that. The selection rule says we should have trials. Hope trials will be conducted before sending the team,” WFI President Sanjay Singh tells Sportstar on the sidelines of the Federation Cup in Varanasi.
May 15, 2024: “By the time trials are finished, the Olympics will be almost there, so when do we start preparations? In my opinion, trials should not be held,” Aman Sehrawat, the quota-winner in men’s 57kg, tells PTI when asked about the trials to decide the final squad for Olympics.
May 15, 2024: Vinesh criticises WFI for not not providing information about the final selection trials format, “including the date, time and venue” with three months left for the Paris Olympics.
May 17, 2024: “We need mental peace before the Olympics. Already two months is too less a period to prepare. At this stage, every single day counts. We plan our training on a weekly basis and if I am called to India for trials, it will disrupt plans and affect medal chances,” Anshu Malik, the quota-winner in women’s 57kg, tells PTI while training in Tokyo.
May 17, 2024: “I am still recovering from the weight-cut at the qualifiers. If we undergo trials again, it will affect our body. We have to complete with elite wrestlers and need to plan well. But if keep thinking about trials, how will we strategise,” Nisha Dahiya, the quota-winner in women’s 68kg, tells PTI.
May 17, 2024: “It takes us about seven days to reduce weight and almost a similar time to recover after competition. If I have to again start the procedure, it’s a huge challenge. We should not be subjected to the trials,” Reetika Hooda, the quota-winner in women’s 76kg category, tells PTI.
May 21, 2024: The seven-member WFI selection committee unanimously decides not to hold trials, therefore allowing the quota-winners to compete in the Paris Olympics.
“Five wrestlers (except Vinesh) had written to the WFI requesting exemption from trials. The selection committee decided not to conduct the trials and send the quota winners to Paris,” WFI president Sanjay Singh tells PTI.
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