“We will fight till the last” - WFI president Sanjay Singh's promise to Vinesh Phogat after disqualification at Paris Olympics 2024 [Exclusive]
Till a few months ago, they were at loggerheads, with Vinesh Phogat along with Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik launching an all-out protest against former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and subsequently the election of his close aide Sanjay Singh as the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president.
While Sakshi had quit wrestling in protest against Singh’s election, Vinesh and Bajrang returned to the mat, but there seemed to be no signs of reconciliation. However, on Wednesday, when Vinesh Phogat was disqualified after being found overweight ahead of her gold-medal bout against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt, Sanjay said that the federation will stand by the athlete irrespective of their turbulent past.
“It’s unfortunate for our country that even after wrestling so well, and qualifying for the gold-medal bout, she was disqualified for being overweight by a mere 100 grams. The WFI has filed an appeal with the United World Wrestling, but we must remember that we can’t pressurise, as everything goes by rules. The UWW, International Olympic Committee and the Paris Olympics organising committee have their set of rules, and regulations,” Sanjay Singh said in an interaction with Sportskeeda.
“The federation (WFI) firmly stands with Vinesh Phogat. We will fight till the last to try and get Vinesh to fight,” he assured.
Reacting to the disqualification, the national women’s wrestling team coach Virender Dahiya said the team found it hard to process the ruling.
“It felt as if we had lost someone close, the news just left us shattered. She was in great shape, we thought one training session in the morning would be enough for her to shed the extra weight, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be,” Dahiya had earlier told Sportskeeda.
Vinesh's semifinal opponent promoted to play final today
The organizing committee of Paris 2024 has already announced that Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzman Lopez, who lost to Vinesh in the semifinal, as the Indian’s replacement for the gold-medal bout against USA’s Sarah Hildebrandt.
The statement further mentioned that the repechage bout between the top-seeded Japanese wrestler Yui Susaki, who lost her first-ever international bout to Vinesh in the opening round, and Ukraine’s Oksana Livach, who suffered a 5-7 defeat against the Indian in the quarterfinals, will now be a bronze-medal match.
Later in the day, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha said in a video message that the entire country is with the grappler, and assured her off all medical and emotional support.
The legendary sprinter also said that the IOA is closely following up with the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), which has filed an appeal with the United World Wrestling to reconsider the decision.